Washington, Apr 22 (EFE).- President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States “(has not) given up anything” in the dialogue with North Korea and confirmed that Pyongyang has “agreed to denuclearization” during those discussions.
“NBC just stated that we have given up so much in our negotiations with North Korea, and they have given up nothing. Wow, we haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearization (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!” said Trump on Twitter.
On Friday, the regime of Kim Jong-un announced that it would halt its nuclear and missile testing and close a key testing site, effective on Saturday, although it made no specific mention of denuclearization, one of the main objectives of the US government and a process that Washington interprets as meaning Pyongyang would completely divest itself of its nuclear arsenal.
In another tweet, however, Trump, who intends to meet with Kim in May or June, acknowledged that the US is “a long way” from reaching an agreement with North Korea.
“….We are a long way from conclusion on North Korea, maybe things will work out, and maybe they won’t – only time will tell….But the work I am doing now should have been done a long time ago!” the president said on Twitter.
This past week, the president announced that CIA Director – and his nominee for secretary of state – Mike Pompeo traveled to North Korea during Easter Week to meet with Kim, a get-together aimed at laying the groundwork for a personal summit between Trump and Kim.
Trump met this past week at his South Florida Mar-a-Lago resort with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to whom he offered guarentees that he will keep Japan’s security in mind when he meets with Kim.
Since the end of World War II, Japan has been a close ally of the United States, but Tokyo is concerned that North Korea’s agreement to end ballistic missile testing will mean nothing for Japan’s security because Pyongyang’s shorter-range missiles can still reach the archipelago.