Trump Says He Will Meet With N Korean Leader Kim Jong Un in May or Early June

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un either next month or in early June.

"We've been in touch with North Korea, we'll be meeting with them sometime in May or early June," Trump said.

Trump said the denuclearization deal between the United States and North Korea could be reached during an upcoming bilateral meeting between the two countries’ leaders.

"Hopefully, it will be a relationship that will be much different than it has been for many, many years," he said.

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Over the weekend, US media reported that the United States and North Korea are holding secret, direct talks ahead of the planned summit between the two leaders.

Mike Pompeo, CIA director who is nominated to assume the post of secretary of state, and his team had been working with their North Korean colleagues through intelligence channels to prepare the meeting, CNN reported.

North Korean and US intelligence officials have even held a meeting in a third country to discuss the possible venue for the talks, the report said. North Korea has reportedly insisted on holding the meeting in Pyongyang.

Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar is also considered as one of the possible locations, the report added.

On March 5-6, a high-ranking South Korean delegation visited North Korea, where it held a meeting with Kim. The South Korean president’s office announced that Seoul and Pyongyang had reached a historic agreement on holding the third ever summit of the countries’ leaders in late April.

Kim also has expressed willingness to hold talks with the United States. Trump accepted the invitation to meet with Kim by the end of May, but the White House has yet to announce the exact date and location of their meeting.