WASHINGTON (Reuters)-US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he still has a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with whom he made several summits during his first term, and referred to North Korea once again as a “nuclear power.”
Asked by reporters during a meeting at the Oval Hall with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, if he had plans to restore relationships with Kim, Trump said, “I … I have a great relationship with Kim Jong Un, and we’ll see what happens, but certainly he’s a nuclear power.”
On January 20, when she was sworn in to her second term, Trump said North Korea was a “nuclear power”, raising questions about whether he would seek negotiations to reduce weapons in any new involvement with Pyongyang rather than the denuclearization efforts they failed in their first term.
After referring to the nuclear arsenals of Russia and China, Trump said: “It would be a great achievement if we could reduce the number. We have so many weapons, and the power is so great. ”
“And number one, you don’t need them to this point. And then we would have to take others, because, as you know, in a smaller way – Kim Jong Un has many nuclear weapons, by the way, many, and others as well. You have India, you have Pakistan, you have others who have them, and we involve them. ”
Asked if Trump’s comments represented any change in politics in relation to North Korea’s nuclear weapons, a White House employee said: “President Trump will seek the full denuclearization of North Korea, as he did in his first term.”
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On February 15, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Japanese and South Korean colleagues reaffirmed his “resolute commitment to the full denuclearization” of North Korea.
Last week, Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong’s powerful sister, criticized the Trump administration for intensifying “provocations” and said it served as justifying North Korea to increase its nuclear dissuasion. This week, North Korea fired several ballistic missiles at the first event of the type since Trump took over power.
