Prez: I back a summit for both Koreas

WASHINGTON — President Trump threw his weight behind the Olympics-inspired diplomatic opening with North Korea, telling South Korea’s leader Wednesday that the U.S. is open to talks with Kim Jong Un’s government under the right circumstances.

A White House statement said Trump and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in still underscored the importance of continuing the “maximum pressure” campaign against North Korea over its development of nuclear weapons, the U.S.-led barrage of international sanctions that is starting to bite the North’s meager economy.

But South Korea’s presidential office also said Trump told Moon to let North Korea understand that there will be no military action of any kind while the two Koreas continue to hold dialogue, the Yonhap news agency reported.

On Tuesday, the two Koreas held their first talks in two years and agreed on the North’s participation in the Winter Olympics being held in the South next month.

But North Korea has shown no willingness to discuss its nuclear arsenal, which poses an emerging threat to the American mainland, and it has stuck to its tough stance toward Washington while it tries to woo the South.