Trump: I won’t get ‘played’ by North Korea
President Trump said Friday he will not be “played” in nuclear talks with North Korea, pushing back against critics who say he is walking into a trap by meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The president said peace negotiations on the Korean Peninsula have “never gone this far,” arguing recent developments are a sign Kim is serious about eliminating any nuclear weapons in his country’s arsenal.
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“We’re not going to be played, OK? We’re going to hopefully make a deal, if not that’s fine,” Trump said during a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House.
Trump spoke soon after Kim became the first North Korean leader to cross into South Korea for a historic meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
Both leaders declared they would attempt to negotiate an official end to the Korean War by the end of the year and work toward denuclearization.
Trump said the U.S. “has been played beautifully like a fiddle” in the past by North Korea, but this time is different “because you had a different kind of leader.”
But some national security experts are skeptical of the talks, concerned that Trump and Moon might give too much away to Kim in search of an elusive deal with the rogue nation.
They worry Kim is not sincere about giving up his nuclear weapons and will only make partial concessions in an attempt to win relief from sanctions imposed by the U.S., South Korea and its allies, which have crippled his country’s economy.
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