Washington, May 22 (EFE).- President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had imposed “certain conditions” on the anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and he guaranteed that if Kim comes to an agreement with Washington he will “guarantee his safety” and his nation will receive international economic aid.
“We’re moving along. We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters upon welcoming South Korean President Moon Jae-in to the White House. “There are certain conditions we want to happen. I think we’ll get those conditions. And if we don’t, we won’t have the meeting.
Trump did not say what those conditions might be and also refused to answer a question about whether he had spoken with Kim.
He acknowledged, however, that “There’s a very substantial chance that it won’t work out. It may not work out for June 12.”
“If it doesn’t happen, maybe it will happen later,” he added. “Maybe it will happen at a different time. We will see. We are talking.”
North Korea said last week that the summit with Trump was in danger because of White House pressure to force Pyongyang to unilaterally “denuclearize.”
Trump, however, hastened to say that if Kim agreed to give up his country’s nuclear weapons he will guarantee his “safety” in power, although he avoided repeating his earlier threat that, if the talks fail, Washington would ensure that the North Korean regime is toppled.
“I will guarantee his safety, yes,” Trump said, if Kim were to agree with Washington to completely, verifiably and irreversibly give up its nuclear arsenal.
He said that if Washington and Pyongyang can reach an accord, China, Japan and South Korea would make substantial investments in the Pyongyang regime and “make North Korea great.”
He also insisted that Kim’s recent visit to China could have caused the North Korean leader to change his opinion about talks with the US, saying that he had detected a change in Kim’s stance after he met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“There was a different attitude by the North Korean folks after that meeting,” Trump said. “I can’t say that I’m happy about it.”
Moon, meanwhile, said through a translator that he has “every confidence” that Trump “will be able to achieve a historic feat. I will spare no effort to provide necessary support,” adding that the future and fate of the Korean peninsula depend on it.