White House says Japan's Abe to visit US on June 7

WASHINGTON - The White House said on Tuesday that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Washington on June 7, ahead of the expected meeting between the leaders of Washington and Pyongyang.

US President Donald Trump will meet with Abe on June 7 at the White House, said the White House Spokesperson Sarah Sanders in a tweet.

The announcement came one day after Trump spoke over phone with Abe, with the two agreeing to meet before a possible meeting between Trump and top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong Un.

Sanders also said in the tweet that Washington continued to "actively prepare" for the expected summit.

Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning that a senior official of the DPRK is heading to New York for talks about the meeting between him and Kim.

The latest positive progress for the summit came after Trump canceled the scheduled meeting last Thursday, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility" displayed by Pyongyang recently.

Trump reversed course on Friday, saying both sides wanted the meeting to happen and it could still go ahead after productive talks. He also confirmed on Sunday that a US official team had arrived in the DPRK to talk about the preparation for talks.