WASHINGTON �� President Donald Trump's immediate willingness to meet with Kim Jong Un about North Korea's nuclear and missile programs probably caught the North Korean leader by surprise, forcing him to consider his position before responding publicly, the South Korean foreign minister said.
"We were all quite surprised by the readiness of that decision," South Korea's Kang Kyung-wha said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday. "It was an extremely courageous decision on the part of President Trump. We believe the North Korean leader is now taking stock."
Trump agreed March 8 to meet with Kim after a briefing from South Korean officials. The summit, expected to take place in a few months, would be the first time a U.S. president has met a North Korean leader _ Kim or his father or grandfather _ and is part of an overall strategy to dismantle that nation's rapidly advancing nuclear weapons program.
Pyongyang has already detonated what it described as a hydrogen bomb capable of riding an intercontinental ballistic missile to cities across the U.S., and Kim has threatened to use nuclear arms against Americans.
The summit, if it occurs, will likely follow an already-scheduled meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in South Korea, at which denuclearization will also be discussed, Kang said.
Trump and Moon _ who encouraged the talks _ have agreed that "concrete actions, not words will be the key to achieving permanent denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," according to a White House statement.
Asked on CBS whether North Korea must meet any conditions for the meeting, Kang said: "in effect, they already have. We have asked the North to indicate in clear terms the commitment to denuclearization, and he has in fact conveyed that commitment."
That means Kim has given his word, Kang said. While North Korea would be entering the talks in a position of relative military strength, it is economically weak, and South Korea and the U.S. are offering nothing in return for talks, she said.
"We have made it clear that we will engage, but there will be no reward for dialogue," Kang said.
