NHK NEWS LINE, 19 March 2018— A senior North Korean diplomat in charge of US affairs is in Finland for a meeting that also will be attended by former US government officials.

The meeting comes ahead of a US-North Korean summit that is expected to take place by the end of May.

Choe Kang Il arrived in Helsinki on Sunday to attend the meeting on security on the Korean Peninsula. Choe is deputy chief of the North Korean foreign ministry’s North American affairs bureau.

A senior official at the North’s mission to the United Nations is also expected to take part.

Former US Ambassador to South Korea Kathleen Stephens is among other participants, along with South Korean experts including a former diplomat. The meeting will open on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump agreed to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

But Pyongyang has made no official response to the potential summit.

Our reporter says all eyes are on what North Korean officials will say on the summit and its nuclear programs.