Trump and Kim promised in a joint statement to work toward the “denuclearisation” of the Korean Peninsula, and the United States promised its Cold War foe security guarantees.
US plans announced earlier this month to impose hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum imports added urgency to the trade negotiations.
After 2 days of speculation, China announced that Kim Jong Un had visited Beijing and met Xi Jinping, who elicited a pledge from the North Korean leader to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula.
The White House said on Wednesday that no negotiations could be held until North Korea improved its behaviour.
UN under-secretary-general for political affairs Jeffrey Feltman has stressed the need for UN Security Council resolutions to be implemented in the Korean peninsula.
Tension on the Korean peninsula has escalated as North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong Un, has stepped up the development of weapons.
The drills came at the end of annual US-South Korea military exercises focused mainly on computer simulations.
Tension on the Korean peninsula has been high for weeks, driven by concern that the North might conduct its sixth nuclear test in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.
North Korea has said the state of affairs on the Korean peninsula was ‘extremely perilous’ because of ‘madcap American nuclear war manoeuvres’.
Pope Francis has appealed for a diplomatic solution to the crisis on the Korean peninsula.
