Trump announcement on talks with North Korea gets mixed reactions

World leaders welcomed prospects for a possible thaw in the long standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons program on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was prepared to hold an unprecedented meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Trump and Kim prompted jitters around the world last year as they exchanged bellicose insults over the North's attempts to develop a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the United States, which it has pursued in defiance of UNSecurity Council resolutions.

But tension eased around last month's Winter Olympics in South Korea, laying the groundwork for what would be the first meeting between leaders from North Korea and the U.S., and the biggest foreign policy gamble for Trump since he took office in January last year.

"A meeting is being planned," Trump said on Twitter after accepting an invitation to meet from Kim. There was no date or venue yet for the meeting although it could take place in May.

'Diplomatic solution'

A spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland's said in a statement that Canada has "always believed that a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis is essential and possible."

Canada and the U.S. recently co-hosted a summit in Vancouver to discuss efforts to find a peaceful path to deal with North Korea's nuclear and ballistic weapon programs.

In a phone call on Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Trump that he appreciates his desire to resolve the North Korea issue politically, Chinese state media said.

Xi said he "hopes the United States and North Korea start contacts and dialogue as soon as possible and strive to reach positive results,"the report said.

China is North Korea's largest trading partner and sole major ally, though overall trade has fallen in recent months as UNeconomic sanctions take effect. Trump has frequently tried to enlist Xi's help to rein in Pyongyang.

Russia, which has joined years of on-again, off-again six-party talks, along with the U.S., the two Koreas and Japan, aimed at ending the standoff, welcomed the newpositive signals.

Japan, however, remained cautious.

Japanese Prime MinisterShinzoAbe and Trump, in a call onThursday, vowed to continue to enforce sanctions until Pyongyangtook "tangible steps towarddenuclearization," the WhiteHouse said in a statement late Thursday.

"Japan and the United States will not waver in their firmstance that they will continue to put maximum pressure until North Korea takes concrete action towardthe complete,verifiable and irreversible end to nuclear missile development,"Abe told reporters in Tokyo.

Saa Petricic gives us South Korea mixed reaction to the upcoming meeting of Trump and Jong-un.

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Saa Petricic reports on the South Korea reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump agreeing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

Trump has derided the North Korean leader as a "maniac,"referred to him as "little rocket man" and threatened in a speech to the United Nations last year to "totally destroy"Kim's country of 26 million people if it attacked the U.S.or one of its allies.

Kim responded by calling the U.S. president a "mentallyderanged U.S. dotard."

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who led the pursuit ofdetente with North Korea during his country's hosting of the Winter Olympics, said the summit would set a course fordenuclearization, according to a presidential spokesperson.

Trumphad agreed to meet Kim without any preconditions, another SouthKorean official said.

Asian stock markets rose on the news, with Japan's Nikkeiending up 0.5 per cent and South Korean stocks more than one per cent higher. The U.S. dollar also rose against thesafe-haven Japanese yen.

"It's good news, no doubt," said Hong Chun-Uk, chiefeconomist at Kiwoom Securities in Seoul. "But this will likely prove to be only a short-lived factor unless more and strongeractions follow."

Trump had previously said he was willing to meet Kim underthe right circumstances but had indicated the time was not rightfor such talks. He mocked U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillersonin October for "wasting his time" trying to talk to North Korea.

Tillerson said earlier on Thursday during a visit to Africathat, although "talks about talks" might be possible with Pyongyang, denuclearization negotiations were likely a long wayoff.

'Nomissiles tests'

"Kim Jong Un talked about denuclearization with the SouthKorean Representatives, not just a freeze," Trump said on
Twitter on Thursday night. "Also, no missile testing by NorthKorea during this period of time. Great progress being made butsanctions will remain until an agreement is reached."

A meeting between Kim and Trump, whose exchange of insultshad raised fear of war, would be a major turnaround after a yearin which North Korea has carried out a battery of tests aimed atdeveloping a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

What is new isn't the proposal. It's the response.- Daniel Russel, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific

Trump's aides have been wary of North Korea's diplomaticovertures because of its history of reneging on international commitments and the failure of efforts on disarmament byprevious U.S. administrations.

South Koreans responded positively to the news, with onlinecomments congratulating Moon for laying the groundwork for theTrump-Kim talks. Some even suggested Moon should receive theNobel Peace prize, although scepticism over previous failedtalks remained.

North and South Korea, where the U.S.stations28,500 troops, are technically still at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a ceasefire, not a truce.

'It made sense'

Daniel Russel, until last April the assistant secretary ofstate for East Asia and the Pacific, the most senior U.S. diplomatic position for Asia, said he wanted to see detail andhear from North Korea on the plans.

"Also remember that [North Korea]has for many yearsproposed that the president of the United States personally engage with North Korea's leaders as an equal one nuclearpower to another," he said. "What is new isn't the proposal. It's the response."

A senior administration official told Reuters that Trumpagreed to the meeting because it "made sense to accept an invitation to meet with the one person who can actually makedecisions instead of repeating the sort of long slog of the
past."

"President Trump has made his reputation on making deals,"the official said.

Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Trump's firmstance on North Korea gave the best hope in decades to resolvethe threat peacefully.

"A word of warning to North Korean President Kim Jong Un the worst possible thing you can do is meet with President Trumpin person and try to play him," Graham said on Twitter. "If youdo that, it will be the end of you and your regime."

A leading Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives said the Republican president would need help from others in the U.S. government if he is to go head-to-head with Kim over such a complex issue as nuclear weapons and geostrategy.

"It will require the President to rely on the expertise within the State Department, the Intelligence Community, and throughout the government, and not simply on his own estimation of his skills as a deal maker," Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in statement.

Some U.S. officials and experts worry North Korea could buytime to build up and refine its nuclear arsenal if it drags outtalks with Washington.

'Tangiblesteps'

In what would be a key North Korean concession, Chung, theSouth Korean official, said Kim understood that "routine" jointmilitary exercises between South Korea and the U.S.must continue.

Pyongyang had previously demanded that such joint drills,which it has said it sees as a preparation for invasion, be suspended in order for any U.S. talks to go forward.

Tensions over North Korea rose to their highest in years in2017 and the Trump administration warned that all options wereon the table, including military ones, in dealing withPyongyang.

Signs of a thaw emerged this year, with North and SouthKorea resuming talks and North Korea attending the Winter Olympics. During the Pyongyang talks this week, the two Koreasagreed on a summit in late April, their first since 2007.