Haley: Rules same for N. Korea talks

Trump tone not softening, envoy says

WASHINGTON — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Sunday that President Donald Trump’s administration isn’t changing its conditions regarding talks with North Korea amid growing tensions over the North’s nuclear and missile programs.

Nikki Haley made clear that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would first need to stop weapons testing for a “significant amount of time.”

Trump had said Saturday that he was open to talking to Kim. It appeared to be a softening of rhetoric, given that Trump lectured Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last year that it would be a waste of time “trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” Trump’s nickname for Kim.

But Haley insisted that Trump was reiterating his past position in his comments from Camp David

over the weekend.

“There is no turnaround,” she said on ABC’s This Week. “What he has basically said is, ‘Yes, there could be a time where we talk to North Korea,’ but a lot of things have to happen before that actually takes place. They have to stop testing. They have to be willing to talk about banning their nuclear weapons.”

“It’s a dangerous situation,” Haley added.

Trump’s comments came as the first formal talks between North and South in more than two years are set to take place in a border town Tuesday; the rivals are trying to find ways to cooperate on the Winter Olympics that begin next month in the South. Tensions are high because of the North’s nuclear and missile programs.

Haley said it was her understanding that the two sides were limiting their talks to the Olympics, “but you know, those two countries have to get along.”

“That’s good for the United States that they can at least start getting back into talks,” she said.

The Trump administration has agreed to delay joint military exercises with South Korea until after the Olympics. Defense Secretary James Mattis insisted the move was a practical necessity to accommodate the Olympics and was not a political gesture.

In August, Trump vowed to unleash “fire and fury” if North Korea threatened the U.S. and on Tuesday warned Kim on Twitter that his nuclear button was “much bigger and more powerful.” Trump argued Saturday that talks wouldn’t be possible without his tough rhetoric.

Haley said that while Trump’s tweet may make people nervous, it’s important to maintain pressure and remind Kim that the U.S. has the power to destroy North Korea if he decides to use nuclear weapons.

“He always has to keep Kim on his toes,” Haley said of Trump. “It’s very important that we don’t ever let him get so arrogant that he doesn’t realize the reality of what would happen if he started a nuclear war.”

On Sunday, CIA Director Mike Pompeo stressed his view that an attack from North Korea was not imminent, though the North appeared to be a few months away from reaching the capability of putting a U.S. city at risk of a nuclear attack. Pompeo defended Trump’s tweets as appropriate and “consistent” with U.S. goals of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

“The president has made very clear that were going to do everything we can to do that in a way that doesn’t involve military action,” Pompeo said, “but has equally made clear that we’re not going to stand for allowing Kim Jong Un to hold Los Angeles, or Denver, or New York at risk.”

Expressing skepticism that North Korea was sincere in trying to improve relations, Pompeo added: “We’ll just have to wait and see how the conversations go Tuesday.”

The North Koreans are behaving out of fear and know that for the first time in a long time, the U.S. is serious about denuclearizing the peninsula, Pompeo said on Fox News Sunday. He also defended Trump’s taunts of Kim on Twitter.

“We want the regime to understand that unlike before, we are intent on resolving this,” Pompeo said.

Trump’s comments on Saturday about being willing to talk with North Korea under the right circumstances are constructive, said Nicholas Burns, a former undersecretary of state under President George W. Bush who’s now a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School.

“It is essential that we remain united with Seoul and not permit Kim Jong Un to divide us,” Burns said.

North Korea and South Korea remain technically at war more than six decades after open hostilities ceased, with more than 30,000 American troops and the U.S. nuclear umbrella pledged to Seoul’s defense. Kim’s offer of reconciliation could strain that alliance by drawing South Korean President Moon Jae-in away from the U.S. bottom line.

Moon campaigned on greater engagement with North Korea and has since his May election affirmed his commitment to reunification through dialogue. He quickly accepted Kim’s New Year’s Day offer of talks, even though the North Korean leader also pledged to increase weapons production. The Trump administration had said that Kim must at least pause his nuclear weapons program before talks would be considered.

A commentary Sunday published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang described improved ties with Seoul as a “crucial matter,” departing from its usually dismissive tone toward the South. The commentary warned that “depending on foreign powers” risked complicating talks.

Still, both the U.S. and South Korea want no disruptions during the Olympics in Pyeongchang, about 50 miles from the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas.

North Korean Olympic representative Chang Ung was expected to meet International Olympic Committee officials in Switzerland this week to discuss his country’s participation in the event, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported, citing unidentified people. Chang told reporters Saturday at Beijing Capital International Airport that a pair of North Korean figure skaters were likely to compete, Japan’s Kyodo News reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — another key player in the U.S.-led pressure campaign against Kim — also expressed caution about the detente in an interview broadcast Sunday by Japan’s NHK network.

“North Korea has shown willingness to cooperate on the Pyeongchang Olympics. I evaluate this change highly,” Abe said, adding that the regime must “abandon its nuclear weapons and missiles” program. “Talks for the sake of talks are meaningless.”