Press. Voanews.
U.S. President
Donald Trump expressed optimism about the commitments North Korean leader Kim
Jong Un made during a historic summit with his South Korean counterpart on
Friday. "No, I don't think he's playing, I don't think he's playing,"
Trump said at the White House, alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"It's never gone this far."
Kim on Friday
became the first North Korean leader to step foot in South Korea, when he
crossed the border to shake the hand of South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The
two leaders agreed to work toward removing all nuclear weapons from the Korean
peninsula. They also vowed to pursue talks that would bring a formal end to the
Korean war.
North Korea has
in the past made similar commitments about its nuclear program, but failed to
follow through. Asked whether Pyongyang's commitment is real this time, Trump
said "we're not going to get played." "This isn't like past
administrations. We don't play games," said Trump, adding that previous
administrations had been "played like a fiddle."
The summit,
which comes weeks ahead of a possible Kim-Trump meeting, represents a
remarkable step back from what many had considered to be the brink of nuclear
war. Trump said the U.S. will be "setting up a meeting very shortly,"
but didn't specify a timeline. He said officials are considering two or three
possible sites for the summit, but didn't mention which ones.
"We will
come up with a solution, and if we don't we will leave the room," Trump
added. The talks come after the Trump administration ramped up what it called a
"maximum pressure" campaign on North Korea to abandon its nuclear
weapons program. The campaign included heavy sanctions and threats of military
force. Trump had said he was prepared to "totally destroy" North
Korea if necessary.
For now, those
threats have faded. But it's not clear how much North Korea is willing to offer
at the talks or what it will demand in return. On Friday, Moon and Kim's
statement said the two leaders "confirmed the common goal of realizing,
through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free peninsula."
After the
meeting, Trump tweeted his support for the talks, saying "good things are
happening, but only time will tell!" Fifteen minutes later, Trump tweeted:
"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!"
Wayne Lee
contributed to this story
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