WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the date and location for what will be a historic meeting between a sitting American president and the leader of North Korea over denuclearization could be announced by the end of the week.
Trump has previously said the meeting with Kim Jong Un will be held by the end of May or early June. He said earlier this week that he may favor meeting on the Demilitarized Zone, the heavily fortified border separating North and South Korea. He also said Singapore was under consideration as a location.
“I think it’s probably going to be announced over the next couple of days,” Trump said as he was asked about South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s recent suggestion that Trump get the Nobel Peace Prize as long as the Koreas receive peace in return.
“I just think that President Moon was very nice when he suggested it,” Trump said. “I want to get peace. The main thing, we want to get peace. It was a big problem, and I think it’s going to work out.”
The audience at a campaign rally Trump headlined over the weekend in Michigan broke into chants of “Nobel!” when he began talking about North Korea.
“I thought it was very generous of President Moon of South Korea to make that statement,” Trump said Tuesday. “I appreciate it, but the main thing is to get it done.”
Trump said Monday that meeting at the DMZ is appealing “because you’re there” and any celebration would be memorable if the talks prove successful.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to discuss internal deliberations over possible locations.
“The list has been narrowed as the president said and we expect to have an announcement on that soon,” she told reporters.
Kim and Moon held talks last week at the DMZ. Trump tried to visit the DMZ when he was in Asia in November but was thwarted by heavy fog.
Trump surprised his advisers and others in March by quickly agreeing to meet with Kim after receiving a briefing from a South Korean delegation that had met with the North’s leader.
