The North has long maintained such a stance, saying it will not abandon its nuclear weapons unless the United States pulls out its troops from South Korea and Japan and stops regular military drills with South Korea that it views as an invasion rehearsal. Trump declined to say whether he had any preconditions for talks with Pyongyang as officials in the United States, South Korea, Japan and China responded with caution and guarded optimism to the possibility following months of insults and threats of war between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. It defends the programmes as a necessary deterrent against perceived plans by the United States, which stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, for invasion - a plan the United States denies. South Korea’s National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong met US National Security Adviser HR McMaster and Japan’s National Security Adviser Shotaro Yachi to discuss summit meetings between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the Blue House in Seoul said. Seoul officials are considering the border truce village of Panmunjom, where Moon and Kim are set for a one-day meeting, as the venue for talks between not only Kim and Moon but also a possible three-way meeting. The security advisers from the three countries discussed the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”, agreed that “it was important to not repeat the mistakes of the past” and to work together closely, the Blue House said. The North’s official KCNA news agency said on Wednesday a “dramatic atmosphere for reconciliation” has been created in cross-border ties and there has been has also been a sign of change in North Korea-U.S. relations. The rush of recent diplomatic contacts began in the lead-up to the Winter Olympics in South Korea last month and helped ease tensions on the Korean peninsula caused by North Korea’s pursuit of its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of United Nations Security Council sanctions.
Delegations from North Korea, South Korea, and the United States meet in the outskirts of Helsinki, Finland.