Kim Jong-Un has reportedly agreed to hold his upcoming talks with Donald Trump at the border village where the peace summit with South Korea was held last week.
The North Korean dictator was convinced by South Korean President Moon Jae-In to meet the U.S. President in the same spot, following the success of their own summit, an official with ‘deep knowledge’ of the matter told CNN.
The source also claimed that some events during the talks could be scheduled on North Korean soil, with Trump making history in stepping across the border.
The news comes as South Korean soldiers were seen dismantling government loudspeakers along the border, which have been broadcasting propaganda and Korean pop songs at North Korean servicemen for decades.
Breaking down barriers: South Korean soldiers dismantle loudspeakers that were set up for propaganda broadcasts near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas
The suggestion to hold U.S.-North Korea talks in the Demilitarized Zone had already been touted by President Trump himself in a tweet on Monday morning.
‘Numerous countries are being considered for the MEETING, but would Peace House/Freedom House, on the Border of North & South Korea, be a more Representative, Important and Lasting site than a third party country? Just asking!’ he wrote.
He reiterated that the Panmunjom Peace House was still very much on the table during a press conference on Monday evening.
‘There’s something I like about it because you’re there — if things work out, there’s a great celebration to be had on the site, not in a third party country,’ Trump said.
‘We’re also looking at other countries including Singapore,’ the US leader added. ‘Everybody wants us — it has the chance to be a big event.’
Other potential locations reportedly include Mongolia and Switzerland.
Making friends: South Korea silenced its battery of giant loudspeakers that blast messages at the North’s soldiers on the border, in a conciliatory gesture after the historic summit
Sound of silence: The South’s speakers would broadcast a mixture of news, Korean pop songs and criticism of the northern regime, while the North’s would attack the southern government and praised its own socialist system
The Peace House in Panmunjom – the village in the DMZ where the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War was signed – was where Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Friday in a major step towards easing tension on the flashpoint peninsula.
Preparations for a Trump-Kim meeting have gathered further momentum since Friday’s Korean summit, which saw Pyongyang and Seoul promise to pursue the complete denuclearization of the peninsula and a permanent peace.
Speculation on the summit’s location came as North and South Korea began dismantling propaganda loudspeakers which have been mounted at the border for decades.
The moves are the first practical, if small, steps toward reconciliation and come after an agreement in the joint declaration signed at Friday’s summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the North’s Kim Jong Un.
Meet you at the border: President Donald Trump has suggested that he would like to hold the talks in the border village of Panmunjom
I’m game: Kim Jong-Un was reportedly convinced by South Korean President Moon Jae-In, pictured at their summit in Panmunjom last week, that the village was the best spot for talks
Activity at several spots along the border indicated North Koreans were taking down the speakers, a defense official said. South Korea started doing the same at 2 p.m. local time, he said.
For decades, with only a few breaks, the two sides have pumped out propaganda from huge banks of speakers as a form of psychological warfare.
The South broadcast a mixture of news, Korean pop songs and criticism of the northern regime, while the North blasted the southern government and praised its own socialist system.
As a sign of goodwill, the South had stopped its propaganda ahead of the summit, and the North followed suit.
In another small sign after Friday’s summit, North Korea said Monday it would shift its clocks forward half an hour to align with its southern neighbour starting May 5.