Second Donald Trump-Kim Jong-un summit in 2019: US Vice President Mike Pence

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Singapore: US Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday confirmed that a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would take place next year. The first summit between Trump and Kim was held on June 12 in Singapore, in which the North Korean leader had agreed to work towards denuclearizing the country and the US President had guaranteed security for the regime, reports Efe news.

“We believe that the summit will likely occur after the first of the year, but the when and where of that is still being worked out,” Pence told the media here after meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Trump said last week that the meeting with Kim would take place at the beginning of 2019 and added that he was happy with the discussions with Pyongyang, despite recent reports that missile bases in North Korea remained active.

Pence said that Trump was determined to maintain sanctions and maximum pressure on the North Korean regime to avoid a repeat of past mistakes, referring to Pyongyang not sticking to commitments once sanctions were lifted. The US Vice President lauded Chinese efforts on the issue and added that Trump would discuss North Korea with Chinese President Xi Jinping when the two meet in Buenos Aires later this month during the G20 summit.

Pence stressed the need to maintain close collaboration between Washington and Seoul after his meeting with Moon in which the two leaders formally approved the objective of achieving a complete and verifiable denuclearization of North Korea. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, set to conclude on Thursday.