TRUMP WARNS NORTH KOREA OF ‘GRAVE DANGER’
He calls for Beijing to rein in Pyongyang following speech in Seoul
UNITED States President Donald Trump arrived in China yesterday seeking help to rein in North Korea after warning the North’s leader that the nuclear weapons he is developing “are not making you safer, they are putting your regime in grave danger”.
Trump used some of his toughest language yet against North Korea in an address in Seoul that lodged specific accusations of human rights abuses.
He called on countries to isolate Pyongyang by denying it “any form of support, supply or acceptance”.
“Do not underestimate us and do not try us,” Trump told North Korea as he wrapped up a visit to South Korea with a speech to the National Assembly before heading for Beijing, where he was making his first official visit.
Trump’s return to harsh, uncompromising language came a day after he appeared to dial back the bellicose rhetoric that had fuelled fears across east Asia of the risk of military conflict. On Tuesday, Trump had even offered a diplomatic opening to Pyongyang to “make a deal”.
He went mostly on the attack in yesterday’s speech but did promise a “path to a much better future” if North Korea stopped developing ballistic missiles and agreed to “complete, verifiable and total denuclearisation” — something Pyongyang has vowed never to do.
The North defended its nuclear weapons and missile programmes as a necessary defence against what it said were US plans to invade. The US, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean war, denies any such intention.
In the capital here, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping resumed their “bromance” struck in April at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, making small talk as they toured the Forbidden City with their wives before taking in a Chinese opera performance.
While the sprawling palace complex in the heart of Beijing is a regular stop for visiting dignitaries, it is rare for a Chinese leader to act as a personal escort, confirmation of the “state visitplus” treatment that China had promised for Trump.
Trump had called on Beijing to do more to rein in ally and neighbour North Korea, but had expressed admiration for Xi.
During his two-day visit, Trump would ask China to abide by United Nations resolutions and cut financial links with North Korea, a senior White House official said on the plane from Seoul.
Trump believed any talks with North Korea would require it to reduce threats, end provocations and move toward denuclearisation, and that no deal could be achieved without denuclearisation, the official added.
Trump and Xi were scheduled to hold formal talks today.
Before leaving for Beijing, Trump cited China as one of the countries that must fully enforce international sanctions against Pyongyang and downgrade diplomatic and commercial ties.
“To those nations that choose to ignore this threat or, worse still, to enable it, the weight of this crisis is on your conscience,” he said.
While Trump will try to convince Xi to squeeze North Korea further with steps such as limits on oil exports and financial transactions, it is not clear if Xi, who has just consolidated his power at a Communist Party congress, will agree to do more.
China had repeatedly said its leverage over Pyongyang was exaggerated by the West and that it was already doing all it could to enforce sanctions.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that China fully and strictly implemented UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea, but would investigate if there had been any contraventions. Reuters