SINGAPORE – A rare series of positive reports from North Korean state media has White House officials feeling optimistic about President Trump’s summit with Kim Jong Un.
The Korean Central News Agency, the official propaganda arm of the government, published an article prior to Kim’s departure for Singapore, describing him as embarking on a mission to establish new relations between the U.S. and Pyongyang and addressing “the issue of building a permanent and durable peace-keeping mechanism on the Korean peninsula [and] the issue of realizing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
“Other issues of mutual concern, as required by the changed era, will be exchanged at the DPRK-U.S. summit talks to be held for the first time in history under the great attention and expectation of the whole world,” KCNA wrote.
In a separate report detailing Kim’s meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, KCNA said Tuesday’s summit would be “an important occasion in achieving peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula.”
“Given the history of the way KCNA has reported, I think that is a sign for optimism,” a senior White House official told reporters on Monday when asked about North Korea’s messaging ahead of Trump’s summit with Kim.
Kim was sent off to Singapore following a ceremony at the Pyongyang airport on Sunday, where dozens of top North Korean officials “wished [him] good successes in the first summit meeting … and his safe return,” KCNA said.
[Also read: Singapore churches urge prayers for peace as Trump-Kim summit nears]
The regime’s unusual messaging ahead of Kim’s meeting with Trump comes less than three weeks after KCNA carried a statement from Choe Son Hui, one of North Korea’s vice ministers of Foreign Affairs, warning of a “nuclear showdown” between the U.S. and Pyongyang. Trump pulled out of the summit shortly thereafter, only to revive the meeting this month following talks with Kim’s top aide in Washington.
