Just asking! Trump seeks opinions on Twitter for Korea meeting

  • Published
North Korean soldiers stand guard at the Joint Security Area (JSA) on the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, 26 April 2018.Image source, EPA
Image caption,

The border village of Panmunjom, which Donald Trump has suggested as a location for a summit

Donald Trump has tweeted to suggest the North-South Korea border for his feverishly anticipated summit with Kim Jong-un, before adding: "Just asking!"

The US president is preparing for historic talks with his North Korean counterpart. "Numerous locations" were still being considered, he said.

But Peace House, on the border between the Koreas, would be a "Representative, Important and Lasting" venue, he mused.

The house hosted the recent summit between North and South Korea leaders.

This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post by Donald J. Trump

Allow Twitter content?

This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post by Donald J. Trump

Mr Kim met the South Korean president Moon Jae-in there last week to discuss denuclearisation of the North - a key issue for any talks with the US.

It was not clear who exactly Mr Trump's breezy tweet was addressed to. His tone belied the historic nature of the planned summit, which if it goes ahead will be the first ever meeting between US and North Korean leaders.

Speaking at a rally in Washington, Michigan at the weekend, the president said he expected the summit to take place "over the next three or four weeks".

This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip twitter post 2 by David Frum

Allow Twitter content?

This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of twitter post 2 by David Frum

Some groundwork has been laid for the meeting - in his previous role as head of the CIA, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this month secretly visited the North Korean capital Pyongyang to meet Mr Kim.

But a venue has yet to be confirmed. Mr Trump said in his tweet on Monday that "numerous" locations were being considered. Mongolia and Singapore are understood to be frontrunners.

A meeting at Peace House would make life easy for Mr Kim, for whom foreign travel is exceedingly rare. It was not until last month that he made his first foreign trip as leader, travelling to China in a bulletproof train so heavy its maximum speed is just 37mph.

It would also save the North the potential embarrassment of having to borrow a plane. There are reports that none of North Korea's aging fleet of state aircraft would be capable of reaching some of the further away locations suggested for the US summit.