Russian president Vladimir Putin has extended an invitation to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for a meeting in Russia, and the Kremlin is currently working out the logistics of the meeting, according to Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Russia has also announced that it will hold meetings with North Korean representatives on Monday and with both North Korea and Chinese representatives on Tuesday.
“On Oct. 8, bilateral consultations at the level of deputy foreign ministers will be held in Moscow to be attended by the North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son Hui, while on Oct. 9, trilateral consultations between deputy ministers of Russia, North Korea, and China will take place,” said the Russian embassy in a statement.
The announcement of a Russian invitation to Kim comes after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Pyongyang on Sunday for what he described as a productive meeting with the North Korean dictator as the U.S. attempts to nudge the North toward denuclearization. North Korea agreed in that meeting to allow international inspectors to inspect the Punggye-ri nuclear-testing site, which it claims to have destroyed.
“As President Trump said, there are many steps along the way and we took one of them today,” Pompeo said of the meeting. “It was another step forward. So this is, I think, a good outcome for all of us.”
Pompeo also said he expects a second summit between Trump and Kim to take place soon, and that they are working out the logistics of that meeting.
“Each side has to develop sufficient trust so they can take the actions necessary to get to the end, and then we’re also going to set up the next summit,” the secretary of state said.
South Korean president Moon Jae-in was optimistic, saying said he expects Kim to travel to Russia for a meeting, and anticipates that Chinese president Xi Jinping will visit North Korea.