UPDATE 1-U.S., North Korean diplomats meeting in Stockholm

High-ranking diplomats from the United States and North Korea are currently holding talks in Sweden, a diplomatic source told Reuters on Friday.

"They are meeting over the weekend," the source said.

The source said the delegations included North Korea's vice foreign minister, Choe Son Hui and Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special representative for North Korea.

According to daily Dagens Nyheter the meeting started on Thursday and will continue over the weekend. Sweden's Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom is also meeting with the diplomats.

The purpose of the meeting is to continue to build on last summer's meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, according to Dagens Nyheter.

Earlier this month, Trump defended the stuttering progress on North Korea by saying that Pyongyang had stopped missile and bomb testing and if it had not been for his administration "you'd be having a nice big fat war in Asia."

(Reporting by Daniel Dickson and Johan Ahlander; Editing by Simon Johnson; Editing by Alison Williams and Raissa Kasolowsky)

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