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Thursday 14 June 2018
Trump claim raises eyebrows: N. Korea no longer a nuke threat?

By MATTHEW PENNINGTON or so.”
and JOSH LEDERMAN He bristled at questions
Associated Press from reporters about the
WASHINGTON (AP) — vague wording of the state-
America and the world ment where North Korea
can “sleep well tonight,” “commits to work toward
President Donald Trump complete denuclearization
declared on Wednesday, of the Korean Peninsula”
boasting that his summit — a promise it has made
with Kim Jong Un had end- several times before in the
ed any nuclear threat from past 25 years and reneged
North Korea though the on. Pompeo said Kim un-
meeting produced no de- derstands that “there will
tails on how or when weap- be in-depth verification” in
ons might be eliminated or any deal with the U.S.
even reduced. While Trump was facing
While Trump claimed a questions at home and
historic breakthrough at among allies about wheth-
the most significant dip- er he gave away too much
lomatic event of his presi- in return for too little, North
dency, Secretary of State Korean state media her-
Mike Pompeo, was more alded claims of a victorious
measured. He said the U.S. meeting with the U.S. presi-
wants North Korea to take A man reads a newspaper reporting the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North dent. Photos of Kim stand-
“major” nuclear disarma- Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at a newspaper distributing station in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, ing side-by-side with Trump
ment steps within the next June 12, 2018. The headline read: “North Korea and the United States end 68 years of hostile rela- on the world stage were
two years — before the tions.” splashed across newspa-
end of Trump’s first term in Associated Press pers.
2021. stops negotiating in good long sought by Pyongyang. Korea was conducting nu- Trump’s own chest-thump-
Pompeo also cautioned faith. The president had an- The summit in Singapore clear and missile tests and ing tweet seemed reminis-
that the U.S. would resume nounced a halt in the drills did mark a reduction in Trump and Kim were trad- cent of the “Mission Ac-
“war games” with close after his meeting with Kim tensions — a sea change ing threats and insults that complished” banner flown
ally South Korea if the North on Tuesday, a concession from last fall, when North stoked fears of war. Kim is behind President George
now promising to work to- W. Bush in 2003 when he
ward a denuclearized Ko- spoke aboard a Navy ship
rean Peninsula. following the U.S. invasion
But the details of what is of Iraq.
sure to be a complex and The words came back to
contentious process have haunt the administration,
yet to be settled. as the war dragged on
Despite the uncertainties, throughout Bush’s presi-
Trump talked up the out- dency.
come of what was the first Trump’s claim that North
meeting between a U.S. Korea no longer poses a
and North Korean leader in nuclear threat is question-
six decades of hostility. The able considering Pyong-
Korean War ended in 1953 yang’s significant weapons
without a peace treaty, arsenal.
leaving the two sides in a Independent experts say
technical state of war. the North could have
“Just landed - a long trip, enough fissile material for
but everybody can now between about a dozen
feel much safer than the and 60 nuclear bombs.
day I took office,” Trump Last year it tested long-
tweeted early Wednesday. range missiles that could
“There is no longer a Nucle- reach the U.S. mainland,
ar Threat from North Korea. although it remains unclear
Meeting with Kim Jong Un if it has mastered the tech-
was an interesting and very nology to deliver a nuclear
positive experience. North warhead that could re-en-
Korea has great potential ter the atmosphere and hit
for the future!” its target.
Pompeo, who flew to Seoul “Before taking office peo-
to brief South Korean lead- ple were assuming that
ers, said the brief, four- we were going to War with
point joint statement that North Korea,” Trump tweet-
emerged from the summit ed. “President (Barack)
did not encapsulate all the Obama said that North
progress the U.S. and North Korea was our biggest
Korea had made. He said and most dangerous prob-
negotiations would recom- lem. No longer - sleep well
mence “in the next week tonight!”q