US, ROK express hopes on US-DPRK summit

WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and visiting ROK Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said here Friday that they are looking forward to the summit between US President Donald Trump and top leader of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong-un.

During a joint press conference with his ROK counterpart Kang, Pompeo said "we look forward to our continued preparations with the DPRK to make the summit in Singapore on June 12, a true success for the American and Korean people and for the world."

"The release of these three citizens helps set the conditions for a successful meeting," Pompeo said.

The White House on Wednesday confirmed the release of three US citizens detained in the DPRK, saying US President Donald Trump appreciates the release and views it as "a positive gesture of goodwill."

Kang of ROK said that the Trump-Kim summit "would be a historic opportunity for resolving the nuclear issue and securing enduring peace on the Korean Peninsula."

"We reaffirmed that our goal is to achieve the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula," she added.

Also on Friday, White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders told the media that the summit "is certainly a process that has moved in the right direction," adding that the US side "plan for a full day of meetings on the 12th with some time reserved to carry over if necessary," presumably confirming earlier reports that the summit will be a day long, possibly extending to a second day.

"Certainly the best outcome would be an agreement for complete and total denuclearization," she said, "but this is the beginning part of these conversations ... And we've been pretty upfront about that."

"We've seen some signs of goodwill" from DPRK, she added.