South Korea offers to play mediator between US, North Korea

South Korea is offering to play the role of mediator between the U.S. and North Korea after Pyongyang threatened to call off a summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. 

A South Korean presidential Blue House official said on Thursday that it plans to “sufficiently convey (to the United States) what we’ve discerned about North Korea’s position and attitude … and sufficiently convey the United States’s position to North Korea,” according to Reuters.

{mosads}The comments come after North Korea threatened to pull out of the upcoming summit between Trump and Kim after Pyongyang abruptly canceled a meeting with South Korean officials over denuclearization. 

North Korea on Tuesday pointed to U.S.-South Korea military drills in cancelling the meeting with officials from Seoul. 

“The United States will also have to undertake careful deliberations about the fate of the planned North Korea-U.S. summit in light of this provocative military ruckus jointly conducted with the South Korean authorities,” North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency said in a statement. 

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told lawmakers on Thursday that Washington and Pyongyang had disagreements on how to achieve denuclearization. 

“It is true that there are differences of opinion between the North and the United States on methods to accomplish denuclearization,” Kang said, according to Reuters. 

When asked whether she trusted Kim, Kang answered “yes.”

The White House on Wednesday said officials remain hopeful about the upcoming summit, and expect a change in heart from North Korea. 

“This is something that we fully expected,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. 

“The president is very used to and ready for tough negotiations,” she continued. “And if they want to meet, we’ll be ready and if they don’t, that’s OK too.”