NORTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said Tuesday [4-17-18] his administration has had direct talks with North Korea at ‘very high levels,’ as U.S. officials seek to negotiate the terms of a meeting between Mr. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Mr. Trump said he expects the meeting to happen ‘probably in early June’ or before. The U.S. has had no diplomatic relations with North Korea, and Mr. Trump would be the first sitting president to meet with the country’s leader. Speaking alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s Florida resort, the president said the U.S. and Japan were ‘very unified on the subject of North Korea…’ North Korea earlier this month told the U.S. that Mr. Kim is prepared to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, clearing the way for a summit meeting between the North Korean leader and Mr. Trump, U.S. officials said.”
–Rebecca Ballhaus and Peter Nicholas, “Trump Says U.S. Has Had High-Level Talks With North Korea,” The Wall Street Journal, April 17, 2018 4:49 pm