Trump said on Monday that he expected to meet Kim in May or early June, expressing hope that they would reach a deal on "denuking" the Korean peninsula.

On Tuesday, the KCNA, North Korea's official newswire, revealed Kim had discussed the "development of the north-south relations at present and the prospect of the DPRK-US dialogue" at a meeting of party officials, referring to the North by its official acronym. He also delivered a report on developments around the Korean peninsula, including the summit with South Korea to be held later this month in the demilitarised zone at Panmunjom between the countries.

Kim will meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in on April 27. The meeting is expected to lay the ground for the Kim-Trump intended summit. According to Fyodor Lukyanov, a Moscow-based analyst, Ri's visit to Moscow kickstarted the development of bilateral relations that had been put on hold by Pyongyang's missile tests last year.

"North Korea wants to underline that it's not alone, it has influential partners, China mostly but also Russia," Lukyanov said.