North Korea: Trump agreed to ‘step-by-step’ approach to denuclearization
North Korean state media reported Tuesday that President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to adopt a “step-by-step” approach to denuclearizing the country.
“Kim Jong Un clarified the stand that if the U.S. side takes genuine measures for building trust in order to improve the DPRK-U.S. relationship, the DPRK, too, can continue to take additional good-will measures of next stage commensurate with them,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a statement, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.
The statement comes just hours after Trump and Kim’s historic summit on North Korean nuclear weapons. The two world leaders signed an agreement after the meeting, committing the U.S. to unspecified “security guarantees” in return for denuclearization.
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“Kim Jong Un and Trump had the shared recognition to the effect that it is important to abide by the principle of step-by-step and simultaneous action in achieving peace, stability and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” KCNA said in the statement Tuesday.
“Trump expressed his intention to halt the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises, which the DPRK side regards as provocation, over a period of good-will dialogue between the DPRK and the U.S., offer security guarantees to the DPRK and lift sanctions against it along with advance in improving the mutual relationship through dialogue and negotiation,” the statement continued.
Trump had agreed to halt joint military exercises with South Korea after the North Korea summit.
The U.S. military said after Trump’s announcement that it had not yet received guidance on ending training exercises with South Korea, and South Korea said it needed to determine the “precise meaning” of the announcement.
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