Trump meeting positive for Koreas: Kim Jong-un
Pyongyang, May 10: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his upcoming meeting with US President Donald Trump will be positive towards easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Pyongyang state media reported on Thursday.
Kim made the remark to visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday, the state run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
During the meeting with Pompeo, Kim described the planned summit as "historic" and "the excellent first step toward promotion of the positive situation development in the Korean peninsula and building of a good future".
This was Pompeo's second visit to the Asian country after his secret trip over Easter, when he also met with Kim, to finalize preparations for the summit, reports Efe news.
"At the meeting, an in-depth discussion was made on the practical matters for holding the North Korea-US summit and its procedure and ways. Kim Jong-un reached a satisfactory consensus on the issues discussed with the U.S. state secretary," Yonhap News Agency quoted KCNA as saying.
This is the first time that the North Korean leader officially spoke of the meeting with Trump, which has been scheduled for the end of May or the beginning of June and will be the first meeting in history between the heads of government of the two countries.
KCNA said that Kim also "accepted an official suggestion of the US President for the release of Americans who have been detained" and gave an order "on granting amnesty to them for their repatriation".
The three Americans -- Kim Dong-chul, 64, Kim Sang-duk, 58, and Kim Hak-song, around 60 -- who had been held prisoners in North Korea, were all born in South Korea but later acquired US citizenship.
Pompeo also delivered Kim a "verbal message" from Trump, adding Kim highly appreciated that the US President has shown "deep interest in settling the issue through dialogue".
Details of Trump's message was not disclosed.
The North's media covered Wednesday's meeting extensively.
The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea's Workers' Party, devoted the front page to the Kim-Pompeo meeting, with relevant photos including those showing the two shaking hands.
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NDA's win in Bihar Assembly bypolls a matter of concern: Prashant Kishor
Patna, Nov 23: Political strategist turned activist Prashant Kishor on Saturday dubbed as "a matter of concern" the NDA's win in assembly by-polls in Bihar despite "failure" of the BJP-led coalition to end the state's chronic backwardness during it's decades-long rule.
Talking to reporters here shortly after the results were out, Kishor also drew succour from the fact that his fledgling Jan Suraaj won "10 per cent" of the total votes polled in four seats, but rubbished the claim that it had played a role in the RJD's defeat in three of these.
"RJD is a 30-year-old party. The son of its state president finished third. Can Jan Suraaj be faulted for that? In Belaganj all Muslim votes went to the JD(U) candidate. In Imamganj, the Jan Suraaj cut into NDA votes. Else, the victory margin of (Union minister) Jitan Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha would have been bigger", asserted Kishor.
Notably, Imamganj, a reserved seat, was retained by Manjhi's daughter-in-law Deepa, who defeated the RJD candidate by a thin margin of less than 6,000 votes. Jan Suraaj candidate Jitendra Paswan finished third, polling more than 37,000 votes.
When pointed out that in three of the four seats, candidates of Jan Suraaj had polled less than one-sixth of the total votes and ran the risk of losing their deposits, Kishor shot back "That should not be a matter of concern (chinta ki baat). If there is a matter of concern, it is the ability of the NDA to make a clean sweep despite having ruled Bihar for so long and "failed" to end the state's backwardness".
The IPAC founder, who had a brief stint in the JD(U), insisted that the party's supremo Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, was a "spent force" and its candidate, former MLC Manorama Devi, had won on her own steam.
"We have always said that our fight is with NDA, not with RJD despite its claim of being the largest party in Bihar.....(but) Nitish Kumar is no factor. His party polled just about 11 per cent of total votes", said Kishor.
About his own party's inability to make a mark, Kishor said "We have secured 10 per cent votes..... in seats where Jan Suraaj had no presence since these areas were yet to be covered by my padyatra. Also, please note that we got our poll symbol after filing of nomination papers was over".
He also maintained that the Jan Suraaj will go solo in the assembly polls due next year when it will contest "all 243 seats".
"We were initially written off but by garnering about 10 per cent votes, in a state known to vote along predictable caste lines, we have proved a point. In the next few months we shall be strengthening the organization to ensure that vote share of the Jan Suraaj improves", he said.
