US: We’ll leave Kim alone if he ditches nukes
THE US indicated last night that it would not try to topple Kim Jong-un’s regime if he dismantles its nuclear weapons programme.
As Donald Trump prepared to meet the North Korean leader in Singapore for historic talks, the US Secretary of State said Washington would offer him ‘unique’ security assurances.
In return, said Mike Pompeo, the US would demand North Korea’s complete and verifiable nuclear disarmament.
He set out the strategy for handling the strong-willed but volatile dictator as President Trump talked of ‘excitement in the air’ and North Korea’s state-run media readied its people for a ‘new relationship’ with the US.
‘We are prepared to take actions that will provide [North Korea] sufficient certainty that they can be comfortable denuclearisation isn’t something that ends badly for them,’ said Mr Pompeo. ‘Indeed just the opposite, that it leads to a brighter, better future for the North Korean people.’
He added the ‘security assurances’ were ‘different, unique to what America has been willing to provide previously’. He went on: ‘We think this both necessary and appropriate.’
Despite the bullish talk from Washington, sources said the two sides had been engaged in torturous last-minute negotiations to bridge gaps on even the most basic issues.
Surrounded by an army of bodyguards, Mr Kim went on a surprise tour of central Singapore last night, seeing the sights and visiting a luxury hotel where he met senior Singaporean politicians. One, minister Vivian Balakrishnan, tweeted a selfie with a grinning Mr Kim.
The North Korean leader may even be able to meet his favourite American, eccentric ex-basketball star Dennis Rodman.
Rodman, who has repeatedly visited North Korea at the invitation of the basketball-loving Mr Kim, said he was flying to Singapore to ‘give whatever support is needed to my friends’, Mr Trump and Mr Kim. In 2014, Rodman claimed that Mr Trump had asked to accompany him on a trip to North Korea. Mr Trump later denied it.
Meanwhile, the President celebrated his 72nd birthday three days early when Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong gave him a cake yesterday.
The big day is on Thursday but Mr Trump obliged by blowing out the single candle on the fruit-decorated treat.
The President has boasted his intuitive powers are so great that he will know within a minute if the notoriously wily Mr Kim is serious about a deal.
‘I just think it’s going to work out very nicely,’ he said just hours before talks began with a one-on-one meeting with only interpreters present.
In a positive sign after weeks in which both sides had threatened to pull out, the White House said talks between US and North Korean officials had ‘moved more quickly than expected’.
It added Mr Trump planned to meet Mr Kim with their respective senior aides after their oneto-one and then again over lunch. The President would then fly back to Washington earlier than expected.
Mr Pompeo would not go into detail about what the US might offer in return for Mr Kim giving up his nuclear arsenal.
He stressed that any economic relief for the poor and sanctionshit country would not be provided without proof Washington’s demands had been met.
‘The ultimate objective we seek from diplomacy has not changed,’ he said. ‘The complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula is the only outcome the United States will accept.’
He made it clear the US is not expecting too much from today’s Trump-Kim talks which would simply ‘set the framework for the hard work that will follow’.
North Korea’s media are already reporting on Mr Kim’s trip when, as a rule, they would only report on his movements after the event.
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