President to meet Kim for new nuclear summit
DONALD Trump said yesterday he will hold a summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un within weeks.
The US president is to sit down for a second time with a despot he once called Rocket Man as he pushes to rid the communist state of nuclear weapons.
Confirmation of the two-day summit, announced in his State of
the Union address, marks a further thaw in relations. Last June’s meeting, brokered by South Korea, signalled a historic moment in a 70-year stand-off between the US and North Korea.
And it marked a major reversal after a war of words between Mr Trump and Kim which diplomats feared might escalate into fullblown nuclear war. During his speech in Washington President Trump said: “As part of a bold new diplomacy, we continue our historic push for peace on the Korean peninsula. If I had not been elected President of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea.
“Much work remains to be done but my relationship with Kim Jong-un is a good one. Chairman Kim and I will meet again on February 27 and 28 in Vietnam.”
At last year’s meeting in Singapore the pair agreed to work towards the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula” and build “new” relations between their countries. However, talks have stalled. Pyongyang has not conducted any atomic or ballistic missile tests since last summer, but is yet to agree to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme.
Last night South Korean president Moon Jae-in welcomed the move. His spokesman said: “The two leaders already took their first step in Singapore toward shaking off their 70-year history of hostilities. Now we hope that they will take a step forward for concrete, substantive progress.”
Mr Trump also used his speech to the House of Representatives to insist his controversial wall will seal the US-Mexican border.
“In the past, most of the people in this room voted for a wall but the proper wall never got built. I will get it built,” he said.