NORTH SERIOUS ABOUT GIVING UP NUKES: DON

Washington, July 2: North Korea is “very serious” about dismantling its nuclear weapons, US President Donald Trump said on Monday, dismissing reports that Pyongyang does not intend to fully surrender its nuclear stockpiles.

North Korean leader Kim Jong- un had pledged to work towards “complete denuclearisation” during a historic meeting with Trump in Singapore on June 12 in return for security guarantees from the US.

The Washington Post reported on Sunday that North Korea was considering ways to conceal its nuclear weapons and secret production facilities.

Responding to the report, Trump said, “I think they ( North Koreans) are very serious about it ( denuclearisation). I think they want to do -- we had a very good chemistry.

“I made a deal with him. I shook hands with him. I really believe he means it,” Trump told Fox news.

The daily, citing intelligence officials, said that the US intelligence officials have concluded that North Korea does not intend to fully surrender its nuclear stockpiles.

Appearing on a different Sunday talk show on CBS News, his National Security Advisor John Bolton said that the US has developed a programme to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be discussing with the North Koreans in the near future about really how to dismantle all of their weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs in a year, he said.

“If they have the strategic decision already made to do that, and they're cooperative, we can move very quickly,” Bolton said.