U.S. President Joe Biden is considering a trip to the Korean Demilitarized Zone when he visits Asia later this month, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced on Thursday.
Biden is going to visit South Korea and Japan from May 20-24 and hold talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts.
Psaki revealed that the White House was still finalizing details of the Asia schedule but a trip to the heavily fortified DMZ separating the two Koreas is a step that is taken by many who visit the region.
Several former U.S. presidents, and Biden himself before he became president, have visited the DMZ. However, former President Donald Trump was the first to meet a North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June 2019 as part of his unsuccessful effort to persuade him to give up his nuclear and missile programs.
The DMZ is often described as the world's last Cold War frontier and has existed since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
Psaki repeated a U.S. assessment that North Korea could be ready to conduct a seventh nuclear test as early as this month.
"We shared this information with allies and partners and are closely coordinating with them," she said.
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