The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kim agrees to dismantle main nuclear site if U.S. takes steps Trump encouraged as leaders of North, South hold talks.
TOKYO — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered Wednesday to permanently dismantle the country’s main nuclear site, but only if the United States makes concessions first.
President Donald Trump called the developments encouraging but made no new commitments.
Leaving the White House on Wednesday, Trump said that “we’re making tremendous progress with respect to North Korea” and took credit for changing a dynamic under which he said it once seemed “inevitable” that the United States would go to war with the country.
Now he and Kim have a cordial relationship that included a “tremendous letter” from the North Korean leader this week, Trump said.
“It’s very much calmed dow n,” he said. “We ’re talking. It’s very calm. He’s calm. I’m calm.”
Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have been meeting in Pyongyang in an attempt to push forward their peace process, as well as advance dialogue with the United States. Standing side by side after their second day of talks, they declared that they had made a major step toward an “era of peace and prosperity” on the Korean Peninsula.
Kim pledged to visit the South Korean capital, Seoul, in what would be a first for a North Korean leader. He also pledged to allow in “external inspectors” to verify that a key missile test site has been disabled.
Later, Moon, who has fervently pursued engagement
the North, made history by addressing an audience of 150,000 people at a perfor- mance of the “mass games,” North Korea’s synchronized gymnastics and dance show.
have lived together for 5,000 years and been separated for 70 years,” he told the audience in the huge May Day Stadium. “We must live together as one people.”
The talks were supposed to enhance cooperation between the two Koreas, as well as pave the way for a second summit between Kim and Trump later this year.
Experts said it was far from clear that Kim had made con- cessions that would make a summit an attractive proposition for the U.S. administration, but Trump himself reacted positively, calling the news “very exciting” on Twitter.
“We had very good news from North Korea, South Korea. They met, and we had some great responses,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday morning.
“A lot of tremend o us things. But very importantly, no missile testing, no nuclear testing,” Trump said.
He n o ted with appa rent approval that the latest inter-Korean summit included a proposal for a potential joint North Kore- an-South Korean bid for the Olympic Games, adding, “We
a lot of very good things going.”
Trump said nothing about a potential second summit with Kim, with whom he met in Singapore in June.
Trump is expected to meet with Moon on Monday in New York, when both attend the annual United Nations General Assembly. Moon is expected to use the meeting to urge further U.S.-North Korean engagement.
In Pyongyang, Kim focused on relations with South Korea. The two Koreas are still technically at war 65 years after an armistice ended the Korean War.
Talksbetween the United States and North Korea have reached an impasse over who should make the next move. Washington wants Pyongyang to take a meaningful step toward disman- tling its nuclear weapons program. North Korea, however, is pushing for the U.S. to declare the 1950-1953 Korean War formally over, and claims Trump made a promise to that effect in Singapore.