South Korea Says North Korea Willing to Talk to US About Denuclearization

South Korea Says North Korea Willing to Talk to US About Denuclearization
South Korea's National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong, center, and National Intelligence Service chief Suh Hoon, (L), make an announcement about North Korea and the Trump administration outside of the West Wing at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 8, 2018. (Reuters/Leah Millis)

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have agreed to meet by May to discuss denuclearization of the regime, a top South Korean official said Thursday, in a remarkable turnaround in relations between two historic adversaries.

The South Korean national security director, Chung Eui-yong, told reporters of the planned meeting outside the White House, after briefing Trump and other top U.S. officials about a rare meeting with Kim in the North Korean capital on Monday.

Chung said that Kim is “committed to denuclearization” and will “refrain from any further nuclear or missile tests” after his meeting with the North Korean leader in Pyongyang on Monday.

NTD Photo
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shakes hands with Chung Eui-yong who is leading a special delegation of South Korea’s President, in this photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 6, 2018. (KCNA/via Reuters)

“He (Kim) expressed his eagerness to meet President Trump as soon as possible,” Chung said. “President Trump appreciated the briefing and said he would meet Kim Jong Un by May to achieve permanent denuclearization.”

Chung did not say where Trump would meet with Kim.

No serving American president has ever met with a North Korean leader. The U.S. and North Korea do not even have formal diplomatic relations. The two nations remain in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty.

“I explained to President Trump that his leadership and his maximum pressure policy, together with international solidarity, brought us to this juncture,” Chung said.

“I expressed President Moon Jae-in’s personal gratitude for President Trump’s leadership.”

Chung also said the leaders of the North and South Koreas have agreed to hold a leadership summit in late April.

Trump later tweeted that “great progress” was being made and that “sanctions will remain until an agreement is reached.”

Trump took office vowing to stop North Korea from attaining a nuclear-tipped missile that could reach the U.S. mainland. Kim’s nuclear and missile tests have fueled fears of war.

Trump, who ramped up economic sanctions on North Korea to force it to negotiate on giving up its nukes, has threatened the pariah nation with “fire and fury” if its threats against the U.S. and its allies continued. He has derided Kim by referring to him as “Little Rocket Man.”

After Kim repeated threats against the U.S. in a New Year’s address and mentioned the “nuclear button” on his office desk, Trump responded by tweeting that he has a nuclear button, too, “but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”

Additional reporting by Melanie Sun

 

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