Japan and Singapore agreed to closely cooperate toward the first-ever summit meeting between the US and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), slated for next month in Singapore.

US President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un will attend the US-DPRK talks scheduled for June 12 in Singapore. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

The consensus was reached during talks between Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera and his Singaporean counterpart Ng Eng Hen in Tokyo on  21 May.

The Singaporean official said his country is ready to serve as the venue for the US-DPRK talks scheduled for 12 June and he hoped that the meeting will yield positive results.

Onodera, for his part, said that the talks must lead the DPRK to take concrete actions toward complete, verifiable and irreversible abandonment of all of its ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction.

The DPRK is taking a conciliatory approach but has not promised any concrete steps for denuclearisation, he noted.

While preparations are underway for the landmark summit between US President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, Pyongyang has recently threatened to call off the meeting if Washington insists on its unilateral denuclearisation before providing any concessions.

(Source: VNA)