Jan M. Olsen And David Keyton, The Associated Press 

 



STOCKHOLM -- Sweden's foreign minister held what she called "good and constructive" talks with her North Korean counterpart on Friday amid growing speculation about a possible meeting in the Scandinavian country between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said Sweden is hoping that “we can use our role and also our contacts,” but stressed that it is up to the countries concerned to decide “which way we are going.” She said that “we value this opportunity to arrange a meeting,” though she didn’t specify what she meant. At a news conference in Washington last week, Trump thanked Swedish prime minister Stefan Lofven for helping American detainees in North Korea and particularly in securing the release of U.S. student Otto Warmbier last year. "We have always said we want to be a mediator that facilitates this process," he said Friday. Ri held talks late Thursday and early Friday with his Swedish counterpart Margot Wallstrom, discussions which according to Swedish officials were to focus on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and a possible Trump-Kim summit. His arrival in the Swedish capital is the first significant diplomatic move by Pyongyang since President Donald Trump said a week ago he would be willing to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Jerker Hellstrom, Asia specialist at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) under the defence ministry, said Sweden has "an important role in the Korean peninsula, both as a protecting power and its contribution to the supervision of the (Korean War) armistice agreement." “If we can help and provide a forum for this and support this process, then this is something we should do.”

Sweden is one of a handful of places analysts believe could host the meeting, along with Switzerland, the neutral nation where Kim went to school; the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone that divides North and South Korea; and China, which has diplomatic relations with the United States and North Korea and has hosted Kim’s father, the late Kim Jong Il. The Swedish statement added that Sweden fully supports the Security Council, which has "unanimously condemned North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs and demanded the complete, verifiable and irrevocable elimination of these program."
North Korea foreign minister Ri Yong-ho visits Sweden for talks.