STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho will visit Sweden in the near future and meet with his Swedish counterpart, Margot Wallstrom, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported on Friday, citing sources. A Swedish foreign ministry spokesman and a spokesman for Wallstrom both declined to comment. “But the fact that we are a protecting power for the US, have been at the border since the 1950s, and have had an embassy in Pyongyang since the start of the 1970s has given us a relationship with North Korea in which we feel they trust us.”

Sweden has been named as a possible venue for the meeting by the US's Washington Post newspaper, broadcaster ABC News, and others. The two officials returned on Sunday from a visit to the United States where an invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for dialogue on his nuclear programme was delivered to U.S. President Donald Trump. The United States has no formal diplomatic relations with North Korea, which has limited the options for the two sides to reduce tensions over North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons programmes. Sweden, however, was the first Western European nation to set up an embassy in Pyongyang, in 1975, and it has been acting on behalf of other western states in dealing with the secretive government in North Korea. Sweden has been taking an increasingly active role in international talks related to North Korea behind the scenes Dagens Nyheter reported, citing sources.
North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong-ho will visit Sweden and meet with Deputy Prime Minister Margot Wallström.