- Kim Jong-un became first North Korean leader since 1950s to set foot in South
- He and Moon Jae-in agreed to end the war on the Korean Peninsula and committed to denucleraization
- Beijing said it now hoped for a 'journey of long-term stability on the peninsula'
- Donald Trump tweeted that the US should be 'very proud of what is taking place'
- Also said he does not think that Kim is 'playing' him: 'I don't think it's ever had this enthusiasm for them wanting to make a deal'
- Said he for one is not playing games: 'This isn't like past administrations'
President Donald Trump says he won't be played like his predecessors when it comes to North Korea.
'This isn't like past administrations. We don't play games,' Trump said.
The president said he doesn't believe that North Korea's dictator is playing him, anyway.
'I don't think he's playing, no. I don't think he's playing,' Trump told a reporter in the Oval Office. 'It's never gone like this. It's never gone this far. I don't think it's ever had this enthusiasm for them wanting to make a deal.'
Trump wouldn't say at a news conference whether he had personally spoken to Kim. 'I don't want to comment on that,' he asserted. 'But we have a very good working relationship.'
President Donald Trump says he won't be played like his predecessors when it comes to North Korea. 'This isn't like past administrations. We don't play games,' Trump said
He said that he does feel a personal responsibility to broker a deal with Kim, if he can, and not just because he promoted himself as a deal-maker when he ran for office but because he is the leader of the free world.
'I think the responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of the President of the United States, ' he said. 'I think I have a responsibility to see if I can do it.'
He added: 'And if I can't do it, it'll be a very tough time for a lot of countries, and a lot of people. It's certainly something that I hope I can do for the world.'
In the Oval Office, Trump earlier in the day, Trump complained that the United States had been 'played beautifully, like a fiddle' in the past by 'because you had a different kind of a leader' — a slam on former President Bill Clinton.
'We're not going to be played, okay? We're going to hopefully make a deal. If we don't, that's fine,' he said. 'We will, I think, come up with a solution. And if we don't, we leave the room. With great respect, we leave the room and just keep it going.'
Trump was optimistic on Friday that a commitment to end the decades-long Korean War and an agreement to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula would pave the way for him to meet face-to-face with Kim Jong-un. Two or three sites are under consideration, he revealed.
Trump and Kim, the North Korean dictator, have spent the last year trading threats and insults as Pyongyang made rapid advances in pursuit of nuclear-armed missiles capable of hitting America.
But amid a softening of relations between Pyongyang and Seoul, the two men have reached an agreement to discuss nuclear disarmament in person.
Trump affirmed said he would be meeting with Kim 'in the coming weeks' during a White House celebration on Friday for Olympic athletes.
'I want to express my hope that all of the people of Korea, North Korea and South, can someday live in harmony, prosperity and peace,' he said. 'And it looks like it could happen.'
Their dramatic meeting that resulted in an end to the decades long Korean War comes weeks before Kim Jong-un (left) is due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (centre, right, next to his suster Kim Yo Jong) and South Korean President Moon Jae-in (centre, left) had 'serious, frank' discussions on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and a permanent peace in their first summit session on Friday
Trump cautiously praised today's historic Korea meeting in a tweet this morning then spoke about it at a ceremony for Olympians at the White House.
Trump said that people claimed that denuclearization was an 'impossibility' when he began his campaign to force North Korea to its break point.
'And now we have a much better alternative than anybody thought even possible,' he said.
This year's Winter Olympics, held in South Korea, were instrumental to bringing the North and South together. They walked under one flag in Pyeongchang at the Opening Ceremony.
'Hopefully the day will come when Olympic athletes can compete on a Korean Peninsula that is free of nuclear weapons and where all Koreans can live together and care share their dreams,' Trump today observed.
Kim became the first North Korean leader since the 1950-53 Korean War to set foot in the South this morning during talks in which he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to a 'complete denuclearization' during the talks.
In tweets on Friday morning Trump acknowledged the progress even as he cast doubt over how long positive diplomacy may last.
'After a furious year of missile launches and Nuclear testing, a historic meeting between North and South Korea is now taking place. Good things are happening, but only time will tell!' Trump wrote this morning.
In a second message, he added: 'KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!'
Trump gave his blessing last week to South Korea, an important American ally, to end the Korean War.
The U.S. president has said in recent days that he will meet with Kim 'very soon' and probably by the beginning of June.
'It could be that I walk out quickly, with respect,' he said in a Thursday morning update. 'But it could be that the meeting doesn't even take place, who knows.'
The White House released photos of outgoing CIA director Mike Pompeo meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un on Thursday after Trump revealed their existence
The White House released photos yesterday of former CIA director Mike Pompeo —now Trump's secretary of state — meeting with Kim during a clandestine visit to Pyongyang earlier this month.
'He wasn't supposed to meet with Kim Jong-un, but he did,' Trump revealed on Fox & Friends. 'We have incredible pictures of the two talking and meeting, which I'd love to release if we can, I'll do that,' the president had said.
Eight hours later, the White House published photos of Pompeo and Kim shaking hands, their countenance pleasant without extending into a grin.
On Tuesday Trump said that North Korea's tyrant 'has been very open, and I think very honorable' in the lead-up to nuclear talks.
He clarified later, after he came under scrutiny for the remark, that he meant, 'I hope that we will be able to deal in a very open and honorable fashion with North Korea. A lot is happening. And I think it's going to be very positive.'
Trump said Tuesday, as he met with France's Emmanuel Macron, that 'a lot of promises have been made by North Korea over the years,' however he has reason to believe that Kim, a 33-year-old dictator who took over from is father in 2011, is serious about wanting to make a deal.
'We have been very, very tough on maximum pressure. We have been very tough on, as you know, trade. We've been very, very tough at the border. Sanctions have been the toughest we've ever imposed on any country,' he said. 'And we think it will be a great thing for North Korea and it will be a great thing for the world. So we'll see where that all goes.'
Trump reiterated that he would 'leave the table' if the discussions with Kim are not productive — a threat he first made during a summit with Japan's prime minister in Florida last week.
'Maybe it will be wonderful and maybe it won't. And if it's not going to be fair and reasonable and good, I will, unlike past administrations, I will leave the table,' he stated. 'But I think we have a chance of doing something very special with respect to North Korea. Good for them, good for us, good for everybody.'
Kim and his South Korean counterpart embraced warmly on Friday after signing a statement in which they declared 'there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula'
Kim Jong-un has become the first North Korean leader to step into the South for 65 years as he met with President Moon Jae-in for a historic peace summit on Friday
Trump said in a tweet on Friday morning that Chinese leader Xi Jinping deserved credit for the actions he took that helped to bring North Korea to the negotiating table.
'Please do not forget the great help that my good friend, President Xi of China, has given to the United States, particularly at the Border of North Korea. Without him it would have been a much longer, tougher, process!' he stated.
China led global reaction to the historic Korean summit today with a quote from a poem that reads 'smiling, we meet again'.
North Korea's sole major ally, Beijing said it hoped for a 'journey of long-term stability on the peninsula'.
China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, 'We applaud the Korean leaders' historic step and appreciate their political decisions and courage.
'We hope and look forward to them taking this opportunity to further open a new journey of long-term stability on the peninsula.'
She also cited a poem that reads: 'We remain brothers after all the vicissitudes; let's forgo our old grudges, smiling we meet again.'
China is a North Korean ally but it has supported a series of United Nations sanctions to punish Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile tests. Beijing has pressed for dialogue to peacefully resolve the nuclear crisis.
Russia has also supported the sanctions and said Friday that the direct dialogue taking place on the divided peninsula is promising.
'This is very positive news,' President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. 'Today we see that this direct dialogue has taken place (and) it has certain prospects,' he said.
The dictator, wearing his trademark black Mao suit, and President Moon, in a navy jacket, hold hands as they walk side-by-side across the demarcation line inside the truce village of Panmunjom at the start of Friday's summit
Kim and Moon strode past an honor guard and military band, before Moon introduced Kim to South Korean government officials
The two sides were writing up a joint statement and the two leaders would announce it together when it was finished, the official, Yoon Young-chan, told a briefing
Donald Tusk, President of the European Council said the messages coming from the talks could serve as a 'positive memento to all', and 'that the impossible can become possible, and that it depends entirely on the good will and courage of individual people.'
The White House said in a statement as the conversation was commencing that it was 'hopeful that talks will achieve progress toward a future of peace and prosperity for the entire Korean Peninsula' and 'looks forward to continuing robust discussions in preparation for the planned meeting between President Donald J. Trump and Kim Jong Un in the coming weeks.'
Just months ago, Trump and Kim were trading threats and insults as the North made rapid advances in pursuit of nuclear-armed missiles capable of hitting the United States.
But Kim is now due to meet the U.S. President to discuss denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
The White House at its allies credit the 'maximum pressure campaign' that Trump implemented that included robust international and unilateral economic sanctions.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says that he still does not expect a great breakthrough that would curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Johnson told reporters at NATO headquarters Friday, 'I am very encouraged by what's happening.'
He said, 'I don't think that anybody looking at the history of North Korea's plans to develop a nuclear weapon would want to be over-optimistic at this point. But it is clearly good news that the two leaders are meeting. Absolutely.'
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he welcomed the summit as a positive step and he strongly expected Pyongyang to take concrete steps towards to carry out its promises.
Japan would stay in close contact with the United States and South Korea over North Korea, Abe said, adding that Japan was 'absolutely not' being left out of the denuclearization process, even though he has not been a part of the talks with Kim.
Meanwhile, a Japanese Cabinet official says his government and the families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1980s and 1990s are closely watching the inter-Korean summit in hopes the two leaders discuss the issue.
Katsunobu Kato, Japan's minister for the abduction issue, says he hopes progress will be made at an upcoming summit that Kim is expected to hold with President Donald Trump.
Tokyo has asked Seoul and Washington to press Kim to resolve the decades-old problem.
Pyongyang has acknowledged abducting 13 Japanese decades ago. Five of them returned to Japan in 2002. Pyongyang says the eight others have died, but Japan believes they could be alive.
Impoverished North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because the Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea as a legacy of the Cold War conflict, which pitted the South, the United States and United Nations forces against the communist North, backed by China and Russia.
Kim and Trump are expected to meet in late May or June, with Trump saying on Thursday he was considering several possible dates and venues.
The latest Korean summit has particular significance not least because of its venue: the Demilitarized Zone, a 160-mile (260-km) long, 2.5-mile (4-km) wide strip of land created in the 1953 armistice to serve as a buffer between the South and North.
No comments:
Post a Comment