By Kim Rahn

North Korea has apparently assured the United States of its willingness to talk about removing its nuclear weapons during direct contacts between officials of the two countries, according to sources here and American media reports.

A Cheong Wa Dae official said Monday that Pyongyang and Washington have been in contact with each other regarding the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump, which is likely to be held in late May or June

"As far as we know, the contacts and talks are going smoothly," the official said on condition of anonymity.

To grasp the situation in more detail, National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong may soon contact John Bolton, the incoming U.S. national security adviser. "He has not contacted Bolton as the latter had not been officially appointed; but as he took office today, Chung will contact him soon," the official said.

Citing officials of the Trump administration, multiple U.S. media also reported North Korea directly delivered its willingness to discuss denuclearization to Washington.

This brushes away U.S. doubts on whether the North's offer for the denuclearization talks was genuine ― doubts developed because the offer was conveyed to Trump on behalf of Kim by South Korean officials who visited Pyongyang, while the North had not commented on it publicly.

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"The U.S. has confirmed that Kim Jong-un is willing to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," the Washington Post quoted a senior administration official as saying.

U.S. officials confirmed North Korean representatives delivered the message directly to Washington, but did not say in detail when and how, according to reports.

Earlier, CNN reported intelligence officials of the two nations have secretly talked about the summit, even meeting in a third country.

The secret direct talks were mainly focused on the venue for the summit, according to the report. While North Korea wants the leaders to meet in Pyongyang, third locations such as Mongolia and Sweden have also been mentioned.

American experts, however, warned of the possible different interpretations of "denuclearization" between Pyongyang and Washington. While the U.S. understands it as complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) of the North's nuclear arsenal, Pyongyang has previously claimed it includes the removal of U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula and the lifting of the nuclear umbrella from South Korea.

"It means the removal of the threat posed by us, not them," the Washington Post quoted Evans Revere, an Asia analyst at Albright Stonebridge Group. "My conclusion is this is not new."

They also noted North Korea has broken previous six-party agreements to dispose of its nuclear weapons reached in 2005.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also said that although the inter-Korean summit and the Washington-Pyongyang summit would be held, talks for talks' sake would be meaningless when looking back on the history of the nuclear issue.

"Inter-Korean summits took place under the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations, but they did not lead to denuclearizing the North, but allowed the country develop its nuclear and missile capabilities," he said in a session at the National Diet.