Now that Washington is being proactive in trying to create the conditions for a second summit with Pyeongyang Curiosity peaks as to where the hotly anticipated event could take place. Oh Jung-hee explores the possible venues. Anticipation is growing towards a possible second summit between North Korea and the U.S. In his New Year's Address, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he's willing to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at any time... and Trump responded... that he too is looking forward to the meeting. A couple of days later, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added to this,... saying he's sure Kim and Trump will meet "in the next short period of time." But up until now, negotiations between North Korea and the U.S. have not been able to move forward -- the two sides couldn't even arrange high-level talks since they were called off in November. The two had a large gap between their demands -- Pyeongyang seeking sanctions relief, and Washington calling for tangible denuclearization steps. Amid such deadlock, the U.S. is setting the atmosphere for a second summit... and watchers believe it's trying to bring Pyeongyang to the negotiation table, with the next summit as an incentive. "The U.S. knows that North Korea wants summit talks. So it aims to draw North Korea out to have high-level talks using the summit talks, saying they can be held in the near future. Washington is urging Pyeongyang to return to the talks." Now that North Korea and the U.S. are negotiating on their next summit venue,... eyes fall on where that will be. Many say, it's highly likely to be an Asian country -- namely Vietnam, Indonesia or Mongolia. All three have expressed they're willing to provide the venue... and they also have diplomatic relations with both North Korea and the U.S. Plus,... Vietnam and Indonesia both lie within North Korea's flight range,... while Mongolia is close enough to the North that Kim Jong-un may even travel overland. And the fact that North Korea has been studying the Vietnam model of economic development... is also a factor. The demilitarized zone lying on the border between the two Koreas, as well as European countries such as Sweden and Switzerland, were once deemed possible candidates as well. But they're now seen as less likely... due to high geographical symbolization and low accessibility, respectively. Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.
