Trump: Talks with DPRK have started

CIA Director Pompeo makes secret Pyongyang visit to prepare for summit

US President Donald Trump said that high-level talks have started between officials of the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as he will probably meet DPRK's top leader Kim Jong-un in May or early June outside the US.

In his talks with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida on Tuesday, Trump also said he had given his blessing to the inter-Korean talks aimed at formally ending the Korean War.

"We have had direct talks at very high levels, extremely high levels, with North Korea (the DPRK). I really believe there's a lot of good will; a lot of good things are happening."

Trump later clarified the talks by saying: "Let's leave it a little bit short of the highest level."

White House Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: "The president said the administration has had talks at the highest levels and added that they were not with him directly."

US Secretary of State nominee and CIA Director Mike Pompeo had made a secret visit to DPRK over the Easter weekend and met with Kim, Trump confirmed on Twitter on Wednesday.

Contacts between the two sides in recent weeks have involved US intelligence and State Department officials, according to the report.

Trump said: "We'll be having meetings with Kim Jong-un very soon. It will be - that will be taking place probably in early June or a little before that - assuming things go well."

As to the venue of the Trump-Kim summit, Trump said the US is weighing five different locations, but none are located in the US.

Trump, however, also said the summit might not happen.

"It's possible things won't go well and we won't have the meetings, and we'll just continue to go along this very strong path that we've taken," he said. "But we will see what happens."

Trump also said Seoul and Pyongyang are "discussing an end to the war", and they have his blessing on that.

Seoul and Pyongyang were scheduled to hold a summit on April 27, the first in 11 years.