Cheong Wa Dae announced that the leaders of North and South Korea would discuss a transition from the armistice to a peace system on the Korean Peninsula during the summit on April 27. U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged this and supported such efforts with his "blessings." Recently, Mike Pompeo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and one of President Trump's closest aides appointed to secretary of state, made a secret visit to North Korea and met with Kim Jong-un, chairman of the State Affairs Commission, and preparations for the North Korea-United States summit is also well underway.

A senior Cheong Wa Dae official met with reporters at the Cheong Wa Dae press room on April 18 and said, "We are reviewing and discussing various measures to develop the security situation on the Korean Peninsula ultimately into a peace system. We are contemplating the possibility and ways to switch the armistice into a peace system on the Korean Peninsula as an alternative."

The official added, "Since our thoughts alone cannot achieve this, we still need to undergo close discussions with related parties including North Korea."

Cheong Wa Dae also said that South Korea and the U.S. were seriously discussing a ban on hostile activities on the Korean Peninsula, ways to establish a peace system, ways to ease North Korean concerns about the safety of their regime, and measures to secure a bright future for North Korea if Pyongyang makes the right decision.

Earlier, in a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on April 17 (local time), President Trump said, "They (North and South Korea) are discussing an end to the war (Korean War).... and they do have my blessing to discuss that."

As for preparations for the North Korea-U.S. summit, President Trump said, "We have had direct talks at very high levels뾢xtremely high levels뾵ith North Korea." He further said, "I believe this will bring about good intentions and good works."

On the morning of April 18, he posted on Twitter, "Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week. Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed." The Washington Post reported that Pompeo visited North Korea as the president's special envoy during Easter weekend (March 31-April 1). Pompeo is expected to have confirmed North Korea's willingness for denuclearization and to have delivered the U.S. position during the meeting with Chairman Kim.

As for the location of the North Korea-U.S. summit, President Trump said, "We have not picked a site yet, but we have picked five sites where it's potentially going to be. We'll let you know very soon." As for the possibility of hosting the summit in the United States, the president confirmed that that was not an option. As for when the summit will be held, President Trump said that it could "probably be in early June or a little before that" if things work out well. His words suggested that preparations for the summit were proceeding at a quick pace in a concrete manner.

However, President Trump also said, "If we don't think it's going to be successful... we won't have it." He stressed that ultimately, what was important was not that he was thinking about whether or not to hold the summit, but the final outcome.