While North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to give up his nuclear program, Donald Trump has agreed to meet him by May, confirmed Thursday evening from the White House. The interview promises to be historic after months of verbal escalation between the two leaders.
An announcement as unexpected as spectacular. After two years of intense tension between the two countries , the US president has agreed to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un soon.
BREAKING: @realDonaldTrump appears in the briefing room to say South Korea will make a “major announcement” at 7PM pic.twitter.com/uBCRfs0dly
— Andrew Feinberg (@agfhome) March 8, 2018
Thursday evening, in the press room of the White House, Donald Trump personally came to inform the journalists that “a major announcement” was going to be made by South Korea.
In a short speech, Chung Eui-yong announced that Donald Trump had accepted the invitation for this historic summit. The North Korean leader “has expressed his desire to meet President Trump as soon as possible,” he said. “President Trump appreciated the report and said he would meet Kim Jong Un by the end of May to achieve permanent denuclearization”.
An iIvitation sent Orally
The White House has subsequently confirmed that the American president, had accepted the proposal.
A tweet, Donald Trump, hailed “great progress” on the North Korean issue, insisting that the strongman of Pyongyang had spoken of “denuclearization” , not just a “freeze” of activities nuclear weapons but also “the sanctions must remain in place until an agreement is reached,” he added.
Kim Jong Un talked about denuclearization with the South Korean Representatives, not just a freeze. Also, no missile testing by North Korea during this period of time. Great progress being made but sanctions will remain until an agreement is reached. Meeting being planned!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2018
An US official said that no letter from the North Korean leader had been sent to the White House tenant but that his invitation had been sent “orally” .
Chung Eui-yong also said that Kim Jong Un had pledged to work for the “denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula and promised to abstain “any new nuclear test or missile” during possible negotiations.
This announcement comes at the end of the remarkable relaxation that has begun on the peninsula since the beginning of the year in favor of the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang .
Maintaining Sanctions
After a lengthy meeting on Monday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Chung Eui-yong assured that the latter was now ready to move on the long file of the Pyongyang nuclear arsenal . He added the North Korea was ready for a “frank dialogue” with the United States to discuss denuclearization.
North and South have decided in Seoul to hold a third inter-Korean summit at the end of April, after those of 2000 and 2007. The summit will take place in the village of Panmunjom, in the middle of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which separates Korea from North of South Korea.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday welcomed North Korea’s openness, calling for caution and reaffirming that all options were on the table. “It would be good for the world, good for North Korea, good for the peninsula, but we will see what will happen,” he said.
Other officials of his administration had nevertheless advised caution, some even being skeptical of this sudden diplomatic appeasement after months of war of words between Washington and Pyongyang, against the backdrop of North Korean progress in the nuclear fields and ballistics.
North Korea now claims that its missiles are able to reach US territory. Targeted by a series of sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council but also US, the North Korean regime has so far always said that the development of its nuclear program was simply not negotiable.