President calls for North Korea to dismantle nukes

WASHINGTON — President Trump said yesterday the U.S. and China agree that North Korea cannot just freeze its nuclear weapons program in exchange for concessions and that it must eliminate its arsenal.

Trump, back from a five-nation Asian tour that included a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, was restating a longstanding U.S. position but suggested that China now agrees that a “freeze-forfreeze” agreement was unacceptable.

China and Russia have proposed that, as a way to restart long-stalled negotiations, the North could freeze its nuclear and missile programs in exchange for the U.S. and its close ally South Korea stopping regular military drills that Pyongyang considers as preparation for invasion.

China has not made a public disavowal of the proposal. China said yesterday it will send a highlevel special envoy to North Korea amid an extended chill in relations between the neighbors.

“President Xi recognizes that a nuclear North Korea is a grave threat to China, and we agreed that we would not accept a socalled freeze-for-freeze agreement, like those that have consistently failed in the past,” Trump said.

He said that Xi pledged to implement United Nations sanctions that aim to deprive North Korea of revenues for its weapons programs “and to use his great economic influence over the regime to achieve our common goal of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.”

China accounts for about 90 percent of North Korea’s external trade — including virtually all its oil supplies.

Speaking at the White House, Trump cast his Asian sojourn as a “tremendous success.”

“America’s renewed confidence and standing in the world has never been stronger than it is right now,” Trump said, detailing his stops in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Trump said he also insisted on “fair and reciprocal trade” with Asian partners and pledged to work “as fast as possible” to eliminate sizable U.S. trade deficits.