UPDATED: Kim Says He'll Give Up Weapons if U.S. Promises Not to Invade
Source: The New York Times
President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, right, toasting on Friday with Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, center, and Mr. Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-ju, in the border village of Panmunjom. Credit Pool photo
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, told President Moon Jae-in of South Korea when they met that he would abandon his nuclear weapons if the United States would agree to formally end the Korean War and promise that it would not invade his country, a South Korean government spokesman said Sunday.
In a faith-building gesture ahead of a summit meeting with President Trump, Mr. Kim also said he would invite experts and journalists from South Korea and the United States to watch the shutdown next month of his country’s only known underground nuclear test site.
The comments by Mr. Kim were made on Friday when the leaders of the two Koreas met at Panmunjom, a village on their shared border, the spokesman, Yoon Young-chan, said on Sunday, providing additional details of the meeting.
“I know the Americans are inherently disposed against us, but when they talk with us, they will see that I am not the kind of person who would shoot nuclear weapons to the south, over the Pacific or at the United States,” Mr. Kim told Mr. Moon, according to Mr. Yoon’s account of the meeting.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/29/world/asia/north-korea-trump-nuclear.html?emc=edit_na_20180429&nl=breaking-news&nlid=77905747ing-news&ref=cta&mtrref=undefined
UPDATE:
Seoul: North Korea’s Kim Vows To Shut Nuke Test Site In May
By KIM TONG-HYUNG | April 29, 2018 9:27 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to shut down his country’s nuclear test site in May and disclose the process to experts and journalists from South Korea and the United States, Seoul’s presidential office said Sunday.
Kim also told South Korean President Moon Jae-in during their historic summit on Friday that the North would have no need to keep nuclear weapons if Washington commits to formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War and signs a non-aggression pact with Pyongyang, the presidential Blue House said.
While there are lingering questions about whether North Korea will ever decide to fully relinquish its nukes as it heads into negotiations with the United States, Kim’s comments qualify as the North’s most specific acknowledgment yet that denuclearization would constitute surrendering its weapons.
Seoul, which shuttled between Pyongyang and Washington to broker talks between Kim and President Donald Trump that are expected in May or June, has said Kim has expressed genuine interest in dealing away his nuclear weapons. But there has been skepticism because North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of “denuclearization” that bears no resemblance to the American definition, vowing to pursue nuclear development unless Washington removes its troops and the nuclear umbrella defending South Korea and Japan.
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