Kim hails Trump summit as ‘excellent first step’ for Koreas

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly said that his expected meeting with President Trump would be a positive step toward reducing tensions on the Korean peninsula.

North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said that Kim made the comment to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to Pyongyang on Wednesday, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.

“He said that the coming DPRK-U.S. summit would be a historic meeting for the excellent first step toward promotion of the positive situation development in the Korean peninsula and building of a good future,” the Korean Central News Agency said, according to Yonhap.

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Yonhap noted that it is the first time that Kim is known to have publicly acknowledged the summit with Trump as the U.S. pushes for North Korean denuclearization.

The exact details of the planned meeting remain unclear, though Trump has said that a date and location for the encounter have been set.

CNN reported on Wednesday that the meeting would take place in Singapore, hours after Trump ruled out holding the meeting in the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.

Kim’s acknowledgement of the upcoming meeting extends the detente on the Korean Peninsula that has unfolded in recent months, which included a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in late last month.

When he sits down with Kim, Trump is expected to push for the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program — a demand that Kim has reportedly said he is open to.

In preparation for the talks, the North has said it will cease nuclear and missile tests, and announced that it would shutter one of its nuclear sites.

This week, North Korea also released three Americans prisoners in what U.S. officials have characterized as a show of good will ahead of the upcoming meeting between Kim and Trump.