Russia hopes for success of U.S.-N. Korea summit in Vietnam - Lavrov
MOSCOW. Feb 24 (Interfax) - Moscow is hopeful that the upcoming summit in Vietnam between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be successful, and is keeping in touch with Washington and Pyongyang on this matter, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"We hope for its success and are trying to facilitate it. I will make no secret of the fact that the U.S. representatives who are in charge of preparations for the summit are consulting with us. We are also keeping in touch all the time with our North Korean friends. Sincerely wishing to help, we are voicing our recommendations as to how it would be possible to move towards results," Lavrov said in an interview with Vietnam Television, China Television (CTV) and Phoenix Television.
"Like everyone else in the world, we welcomed the normalization of relations between the U.S. and the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea], the summit that took place in Singapore last year and also the agreements announced by U.S. President Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un regarding the need for the de-escalation, denuclearization and general normalization of the situation on the Korean Peninsula. What counts most is for these words to be translated into practical deeds. As far as I understand, this is what the U.S. and DPRK negotiators preparing the summit due next week are working on at the moment - they are trying to agree how to formalize practical agreements with concrete dates, a concrete timeframe and commitments at this summit," he said.
Trump said earlier that the second U.S.-North Korean summit would be held in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27-28.