Prospects for historic US-North Korea summit increasingly clear

Notably, on April 10, North Korean media mentioned for the first time this historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump. Previously, all information about the meeting was provided by South Korea or the US.

North Korean media reported on April 10 that at a meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea yesterday, the country's leader Kim Jong-un analyzed the results of the upcoming dialogue with the United States and developments in inter-Korean relations before the inter-Korean summit scheduled for April 27.

Mr. Kim Jong-un raised a series of strategic and tactical issues that need to be discussed and approved by the members of the Workers' Party of Korea, such as future international relations policy or course of action.

These are the first comments from North Korean media, as well as from leader Kim Jong-un, about the upcoming summit with the US, as the North Korean government has remained largely silent on such information. Therefore, this can be seen as North Korea's confirmation of the upcoming meeting with the US leader.

Meanwhile, also yesterday, US President Donald Trump said he plans to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in May or early June. He also expressed hope that the discussions will help the parties reach an agreement on denuclearization on the Korean peninsula.

A few months ago, this positive development was considered unthinkable because tensions on the Korean peninsula, as well as tensions between the US and North Korea, were constantly escalating, even pushing the two countries to the brink of a full-scale war.

The atmosphere is completely different now. Instead of war of words and provocations, there is a flurry of active diplomatic activity, a series of formal and informal negotiations in preparation for the upcoming historic event.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that North Korea has directly confirmed to the United States that it is ready to negotiate on denuclearization. President Donald Trump did not hide his hope that the new relationship with North Korea will be very different from the relationship the two sides have maintained for many years.

“The meeting will probably take place in late May or early June. I hope we can reach an agreement on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and then we will have a very different relationship than the one we have had for many years.

"This is something that other presidents should have done but didn't and couldn't do. It would have been easier to do five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago. But we have a meeting planned with North Korea, and I think it's very important for the world," the Wall Street Journal said.

But perhaps what makes the international community, as well as experts, more hopeful about the upcoming Korea-North Korea or US-North Korea summits, is the six-party talks mechanism (including North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the US) that is being actively promoted by all parties. Not only in Korea, North Korea or the US, proactive diplomatic efforts are also being carried out in Japan, China and Russia.

One notable diplomatic activity taking place is the visit to Russia of a North Korean delegation led by the country's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho. Along with China, Russia has recently shown an increasingly important role in resolving the crisis on the Korean peninsula.

The country has proposed that the US and South Korea reduce military exercises in exchange for North Korea halting its controversial nuclear and missile programs. Although the proposal has not been accepted by the US, it is clear that, given the current atmosphere of reconciliation, this could be one of the optimal options discussed by the parties in the upcoming high-level negotiations./.