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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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30jun19
Trump Meets North Korea's Kim Jong Un And Says Nuclear Negotiations Will Resume
President Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the third time Sunday, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to step foot in North Korea before announcing that the two countries would look to revive stalled nuclear talks.
The meeting, held behind closed doors at the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas, lasted longer than Trump's initial stated plan of simply shaking hands.
"I never expected to meet you at this place," Kim told Trump through an interpreter as they greeted each other at the demarcation line. Trump walked with Kim a few steps into North Korean territory where the two shook hands and posed for photos, before both crossed over into South Korea.
Trump said stepping over the demarcation line was "a great honor," while Kim said the event "has a lot of significance because it means that we want to bring an end to the unpleasant past" and called it a "courageous and determined act."
The two met privately in the building on the South Korean side known as Freedom House for about 50 minutes before Trump escorted Kim back to North Korea's territory.
"The meeting was a very good one," Trump told reporters afterward, saying with nuclear negotiations, "we're not looking for speed, we're looking to get it right."
He said the U.S. would be employing a designated team selected by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to start work on new negotiations in the next few weeks, while North Korea would have a team as well.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, standing next to Trump, said the meeting and upcoming negotiations "presented a big hope" to the Korean people.
Trump also confirmed that he would invite Kim to visit the United States.
Trump said sanctions, which the North wants lifted and were a sticking point in the second meeting, would remain in place, but said he was "looking forward to taking them off."
Earlier in the day in Seoul, Trump said "we've developed a very good relationship, and we understand each other, I do believe he understands me and I think I maybe understand him."
Trump initially described the meeting as only a brief encounter to shake hands. Trump proposed the get-together on Twitter on Saturday while he was in Japan.
He became the first sitting U.S. president to hold a summit with a sitting North Korean leader when he met with Kim in Singapore in June 2018. The summit ended with promises for North Korea to pursue denuclearization — but little in the way of details on how to get that done.
Trump's second summit with Kim, in Vietnam in February, ended early after the two could not reach an agreement on moving forward. Trump said Kim insisted on sanctions being removed before dismantling key nuclear programs, to which he responded that "we couldn't do that."
The two leaders have since exchanged letters.
At the news conference earlier Sunday in Seoul, Trump and Moon were questioned about whether the meeting might help grease the wheels for a third formal summit between Trump and Kim on denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, with the potential for the North to abandon its nuclear arsenal in exchange for a lifting of heavy international sanctions. Trump was uncharacteristically restrained about the notion. "Let's see what happens today before we start thinking about that," he said.
[Source: By James Doubek, NPR, Washington, 30Jun19]
 | This document has been published on 19Sep21 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |