North Korea Committed To Denuclearize by the End of Trump's Term, SK Officials Say
North Korea will complete its journey along the rocky road to denuclearization by the end of President Donald Trump’s current term in office, according to a South Korean official.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in Sept. 18-20 to discuss “practical measures” toward denuclearization, Moon’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, said Thursday, according to Reuters.
Moon’s trip to Pyongyang will be the first visit of a South Korean leader to the capital of North Korea since 2007. It will also be the third meeting of the year between Moon and Kim.
Chung met with Kim on Wednesday and said the North Korean leader indicated his faith in Trump was “unchanged.”
“This trust, despite some difficulties surfaced during the negotiation process between the U.S. and the North, will continue,” Chung said, according to CNN.
North Korean state media said Kim “remains unchanged in his determination to strive hard to bring the fellow countrymen better results at an early date.”
“Noting that it is our fixed stand and his (Kim’s) will to completely remove the danger of armed conflict and horror of war from the Korean peninsula and turn it into the cradle of peace without nuclear weapons and free from nuclear threat, he said that the north and the south should further their efforts to realize the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” North Korea’s news agency said.
Kim also set the goal of achieving denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and overhauling U.S. relations by the time Trump’s current term ends, Chung said.
Chung said North Korea “was willing to take more active measures toward denuclearization if his advance steps could be met with matching measures (from the U.S.).”
“He particularly emphasized that he has never said anything negative about President Trump,” Chung said.
Trump responded to the comments with a tweet.
Kim Jong Un of North Korea proclaims “unwavering faith in President Trump.” Thank you to Chairman Kim. We will get it done together!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2018
“Thank you to Chairman Kim. We will get it done together!” Trump wrote.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo conceded getting the concepts of an alliance down on paper remains daunting.
“The work of convincing Chairman Kim to make this strategic shift that we’ve talked about for a brighter future for the people of North Korea continues,” Pompeo said, according to The Daily Caller.
“It is the case that there is still an enormous amount of work to do,” he added.
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