‘Bumpy road’ before Trump and Kim sit down to talk

Defence secretary cautions against high expectations amid signs historic summit may be hanging in balance

JAMES MATTIS, the US defence secretary, warned yesterday of a “bumpy road” to the negotiating table with Kim Jong-un as nuclear talks with North Korea, tentatively scheduled for June 12, still appear to hang in the balance.

He cautioned against high expectations, days after Donald Trump announced the cancelled meeting in Singapore was once again on, calling it a “getting to know you meeting”.

Gen Mattis has spent the past few days in Singapore shoring up support from allies before the meeting, seen by the US as the first step towards denuclearising the Korean peninsula.

“We can anticipate, at best, a bumpy road to the negotiations,” he said speaking at the beginning of a security meeting with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts yesterday.

“In this moment, we are steadfastly committed to strengthening even further our defence cooperation as the best means for preserving the peace.

“As defence ministers, we must maintain a strong collaborative defensive stance so we enable our diplomats to negotiate from a calm position of strength in this critical time.”

His remarks came as Bashar al-assad, the Syrian president, said he planned to visit Kim in North Korea.

“I am going to visit the DPRK and meet … Kim Jong-un,” Assad said, reported KCNA, the North’s state-run news agency, using the abbreviated version of the country’s official name.

“The world welcomes the remarkable events in the Korean peninsula brought about recently by the outstanding political calibre and wise leadership of … Kim Jong-un,” KCNA cited Assad as saying during a meeting with North Korean ambassador Mun Jong-nam on Wednesday.

United Nations monitors have accused North Korea of cooperating with Syria on chemical weapons, a charge the North denies.

Sanctions have been levied against North Korea by bodies and countries including the EU, Japan, South Korea, the UN and the US since 2006.

Gen Mattis reiterated that North Korea would only receive relief from crippling US sanctions when there was irrefutable evidence that the country’s nuclear programme was being dismantled.

“We will continue to implement all UN security council resolutions. North Korea will receive relief only when it demonstrates verifiable and irreversible

‘North Korea will receive relief when it demonstrates verifiable and irreversible steps to denuclearisation’

steps to denuclearisation.” A key task remains agreeing the summit agenda with the main stumbling block likely to be the understanding of the term “denuclearisation”, which both sides define differently.

Washington wants North Korea to quickly give up all its nuclear weapons in a verifiable way in return for lifting economic sanctions imposed after it conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

But analysts say North Korea will be unwilling to cede its nuclear deterrent unless it is given guarantees that the US will not try to topple the regime.

The retired army general’s tough talk came after the usually bombastic Mr Trump remained uncharacteristically cautious in his ambitions for the talks.

“I think it’ll be a process … But the relationships are building, and that’s a very positive thing,” Mr Trump said.