FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

Regional Cooperation To Foster Successful U.S.-North Korea Summit

Feb. 12, 2019 (EIRNS)—Chinese and Russian Deputy Foreign Ministers Kong Xuanyou and Igor Morgulov met yesterday to coordinate efforts to enhance security on the Korean Peninsula. The press release issued after their meeting made clear the two nations are doing what they can to ensure the upcoming summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un is successful.

“The two sides agreed that there is a continued momentum of dialogue and de-escalation on the Peninsula, and made positive comments on the D.P.R.K. and the U.S. efforts to resolve the issue through dialogue,”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying reported at today’s briefing.

“We hope the D.P.R.K. and the U.S. can move in the same direction, respond to each other’s concerns, and push for the success of the second summit where positive outcomes can be achieved.”

She also stated that China and Russia also support the improvement of the relations between South and North Korea.

Evidence of the greater regional cooperation developing around the U.S.-North Korean summit process, is the two-day visit of Vietnam’s Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh to North Korea, which started today. Arrangements for the second U.S.-North Korea summit to take place in Hanoi on Feb. 27-28 are obviously on the agenda. Asia News International reports that there is also speculation that North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un may pay a state visit to Vietnam either before or after his meeting with President Trump. That would be the first state visit to Vietnam by a North Korean leader in over 50 years, the last one being the visit to Hanoi of Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il-sung, in October 1964.