Trump-Kim to hold a second summit next month

US President Donald Trump is to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for a second summit by the end of February but will maintain economic sanctions on Pyongyang, the White House said on Friday the White House says.

The announcement came after Trump met top North Korean negotiator Kim Yong-chol at the White House.

He had been expected to deliver a letter from Kim Jong-un to Trump.

Little progress has been made on denuclearisation since their historic summit in Singapore last June. No venue has been announced for the new summit.

Speculation is mounting that it could be held in Vietnam.

“President Donald J. Trump met with Kim Yong Chol for an hour and a half to discuss denuclearisation and a second summit, which will take place near the end of February,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. She said a location would be announced later.

It is not clear what the reported letter from Kim Jong-un contained. But it was expected to lay the groundwork for another summit, our correspondent adds.

President Trump said he was looking forward to the talks.

Sanders said after the White House meeting that progress in the talks on denuclearisation continued, but added: "The United States is going to continue to keep pressure and sanctions on North Korea."

South Korea’s presidential office said it expected the upcoming summit to be a “turning point to lay the firm foundation for lasting peace on the Korean peninsula.”

South Korea will work with the United States and other countries to “achieve concrete and practical results towards complete denuclearisation and a lasting peace regime through the North Korea-U.S. summit...,” presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in a statement on Saturday.

South Korea will also expand inter-Korean dialogue to help a successful meeting between Trump and Kim, he added.

Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled, no detailed account of North Korea's nuclear facilities has been provided and sanctions are still firmly in place.