Kim Jong Un has sent an envoy to Finland to discuss the big Trump summit

Despite its bizarre silence over the forthcoming meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, North Korea dispatched officials to Finland over the weekend to take part in talks with the U.S. and South Korea ahead of the historic summit.

The U.S. delegation includes two former ambassadors to South Korea — Kathleen Stephens and Thomas Hubbard — as well as academics Bob Carlin, John Delury, and Karl Eikenberry, according to sources speaking to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

The meeting was initially set to discuss the broader tensions on the Korean Peninsula, but following Trump’s acceptance of an invitation to meet Kim, talks will now focus on the logistics of the summit. A date hasn't been set yet.

Kimmo Lahdevirta, an official at the Finland foreign ministry, confirmed the three-way talks would take place this week, describing the sit-down as a “track 1.5 academic meeting, involving representatives from North Korea, South Korea, and the U.S.”

Stephens served as ambassador to Seoul under President Barack Obama and is fluent in Korean. She was also stationed in South Korea while serving in the Peace Corps.

Hubbard served as ambassador from 2001 to 2004 and has extensive experience dealing with North Korean officials. He was the principal negotiator of the 1994 Agreed Framework, a process aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program. He also headed the first senior-level U.S. government delegation to North Korea.

The date, time and location for the meeting has yet to be officially announced, but Yonhap sources said it would kick off with a dinner hosted by the Finnish government Monday, before talks get underway on Tuesday.

It is understood that Choe Kang Il, the deputy director general for North American affairs at North Korea's foreign ministry, is leading the delegation from the hermit kingdom, after he was seen boarding a plane for Finland at Beijing’s airport.

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung Wha told CBS Sunday that Kim was surprised by Trump’s willingness to meet, adding that the North Korean leader had expressed a sincere willingness to get rid of his nuclear arsenal. “The significance of his word is quite weighty. In the sense that this is the first time the words came directly from the North Korean supreme leader himself.”

The South Korean delegation at the talks will include Shin Kak Soo, former ambassador to Japan, Shin Jung Seung, former ambassador to China, and Kim Joon Hyung of Handong Global University.

“The meeting had been initially designed as a venue to discuss ways to ease tensions but is likely to discuss summit meetings as the situation has evolved,” Kim told Yonhap. “During the one-and-a-half--day meeting, the discussion will start from scratch without any keynote speeches.”

Cover image: This undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 12, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un attending a photo session with teachers who volunteered to work at branch schools on islands and schools in forefront line and mountainous areas, in Pyongyang. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)