Trump ‘likely’ to see Kim again

US president insists ‘a lot of good things are happening’

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said he would “most likely” meet again with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, while defending his efforts to convince Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.

In an interview with Reuters, Trump, who held a landmark summit with Kim on June 12, said he believed North Korea had taken specific steps toward denuclearisation, despite widespread doubts about Kim’s willingness to abandon his arsenal.

While insisting that “a lot of good things are happening” with North Korea, Trump complained that China was not helping as much as it had in the past because of its trade dispute with the United States.

Trump, who faced the North Korean challenge as soon as he took

Donald Trump

office in January 2017, said he had only been working on the North Korean issue for three months whereas his predecessors had been working on it for 30 years.

“I stopped (North Korea’s) nuclear testing. I stopped (North Korea’s) missile testing. Japan is thrilled. What’s going to happen? Who knows? We’re going to see,” he said.

At their summit in Singapore, Kim agreed in broad terms to work towards denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula but North Korea has given no indication it is willing to give up its weapons unilaterally as the Trump administration has demanded.

Trump has hailed the Singapore summit as a success and went as far as saying North Korea no longer posed a nuclear threat.

South Korea’s presidential Blue House said yesterday Trump’s mention of the possibility of another summit with Kim could be a sign of progress in their relations.

Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in agreed at their summit in April to push to declare an official end to the 195053 Korean War together with the United States.

Seoul officials see the UN General Assembly in New York next month as a desirable venue for the declaration but said they are flexible about its formality.

The Washington-based think tank 38 North reported last month that satellite images indicated North Korea had begun dismantling key facilities at a site used to develop engines for ballistic missiles, in a first step towards fulfilling a pledge US officials say he made to Trump at the summit.

However, several members of the U.S. negotiating team, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they had seen no progress towards denuclearisation and no sign that North Korea was prepared to negotiate seriously until the United States promised relief from sanctions in return. — Reuters

I stopped (North Korea’s) missile testing. Japan is thrilled. What’s going to happen?