One of the top officials in the U.S. government has reiterated that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and President Trump will hold their second face-to-face after the U.S. midterm elections in early November.
Indications are that it will happen before the end of the year.
Cha Sang-mi has more.
As the two sides work behind the scenes to set up a highly-anticipated second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton has reaffirmed the U.S. leader's earlier statement on his plans.
Speaking in a radio interview with the Hugh Hewitt Show that aired on Friday, local time,... Bolton said he thinks the summit will take place (quote) "sometime in the next couple of months," but it depends on President Trump's diplomatic efforts to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.
Bolton said President Trump "held the door open for North Korea", since the two leaders met for the first time in Singapore in June and said were the regime to "denuclearize completely and irreversibly" and "walk through the door, the future could be very different for the North Korean people."
Bolton, known for his hawkish foreign policy outlook, told Hewitt that the combination of the potential use of military force and the U.S.-led maximum pressure campaign on the North's economy is what brought Kim to the table.
He also said President Trump was optimistic about his administration's relations with the North, but he doesn't see stars in Trump's eyes about it,.. and that was the same for him, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Secretary of Defense James Mattis.
Bolton's remarks come after President Trump recently told reporters that the summit will be held after the November 6th midterms.
Trump also said three or four locations are being considered for the summit venue, but they probably won't be heading back to Singapore.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News.