Kim Jong-un promises end to nuke program if US agrees not to invade
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made a remarkable gesture toward peace, vowing to scrap his nuclear arsenal if the United States agrees not to attack his country — but the Trump administration says it will still keep its “eyes wide open” during upcoming negotiations.
Kim made the offer during his historic meeting Friday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, according to officials Sunday.
He also said he would shut down the North’s nuclear-test site in May and allow experts and journalists to observe the dismantling, officials added.
“There is no reason for us to possess nuclear weapons while suffering difficulties if mutual trust with the United States is built through frequent meetings from now on, and an end to the war and nonaggression are promised,” Moon spokesman Yoon Young-chan quoted Kim as saying.
“Once we start talking, the United States will know that I am not a person to launch nuclear weapons at South Korea, the Pacific or the United States,” Kim also said, according to Yoon.
But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed some wariness of the offer later Sunday. It wouldn’t be the first time North Korean leaders made promises and then reneged.
“This administration has its eyes wide open,” Pompeo said on ABC’s “This Week.” “We know the history. We know the risks. We’re going to be very different.”
Trump’s new national security adviser, John Bolton, also said the United States needs proof.
“We want to see real commitment; we don’t want to see propaganda from North Korea,” Bolton said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “What we want to see from them is evidence that it’s real and not just rhetoric.
“We’ve heard this before,” Bol- ton continued. “The North Korean propaganda playbook is an infinitely rich resource.”
The Hermit Kingdom has made overtures toward disarmament before, including in 2007 when it agreed to shut down its nuclear facilities in exchange for a $400 million aid package from a group of nations including the United States. That deal fell through after North Korea refused to agree to US verification standards, and the country resumed nuclear testing in 2009.
But Pompeo said he had a “good conversation” when he met Kim over the Easter week- end and said the strongman is willing to work toward “irreversible denuclearization.”
North Korea already announced that it has suspended all future tests of nuclear arms and intercontinental ballistic missiles, and shut down a test site at Punggye-ri.
Pompeo and Kim met to prepare for a landmark summit between Trump and the North Korean leader in May or June.
In the past, North Korea has said it needs a nuclear arsenal to defend itself against US aggression and has called military exercises between US and South Korea forces a rehearsal for an invasion.