US again demands North Korea offer full disclosure on nukes, risking angering Pyongyang even as Trump hails ‘progress’
- Trump told reporters that a time and location for second summit had been agreed and would be announced next week
- Special envoy for North Korea admitted Washington and Pyongyang do not have an agreed definition of denuclearisation
In a speech at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, envoy Stephen Biegun called for North Korea to declare all its nuclear and missile programmes and warned that Washington had “contingencies” if the diplomatic process failed.
Biegun said Washington would have to have expert access and monitoring mechanisms of the key nuclear and missile sites and “ultimately ensure removal or destruction of stockpiles of fissile material, weapons, missiles, launchers and other weapons of mass destruction”.
Pyongyang has rejected declaring its weapons programmes for decades.
The information from Biegun goes much further than Pompeo himself did after his trip and further than any public statement by Pyongyang.
They very much want the meeting. And I think they really want to do something, and we’ll see
While Biegun conceded there was “more work ahead of us than behind us,” Trump appeared upbeat about the prospects for a second summit with Kim, telling reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that a time and location had been agreed upon and would be announced next week.