White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday walked back President Donald Trump’s claim the previous day that North Korea had “agreed to denuclearization” ahead of a planned meeting between Trump and North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un.
Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd of Fake News NBC just stated that we have given up so much in our negotiations with North Korea, and they have given up nothing. Wow, we haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearization (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2018
….We are a long way from conclusion on North Korea, maybe things will work out, and maybe they won’t – only time will tell….But the work I am doing now should have been done a long time ago!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2018
Based on what is known publicly, Trump’s claim appears to be false. So far, North Korea has only announced that it has halted nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile testing and suspended a nuclear test site. South Korean President Moon Jae-in told reporters last week that “North Korea is expressing a will for a complete denuclearization,” but that’s a long way from actually acting on such a desire.
At a press briefing Monday, ABC News’ Jonathan Karl asked about Trump’s tweet. “Where did they [agree to denuclearize]?” he asked. “Have they already agreed to do that?”
“Certainly in a number of the conversations, including the comments I would refer you back to,” Sanders said, without specifying which comments she was referencing. “Also, South Korean President Moon, who has said that North Korea has expressed a will for complete denuclearization, and certainly that’s the focus of any conversation and negotiation that the United States will have with North Korea.”
She assured the press later, though, that “we’re not going to take the North Koreans simply at their word” in the course of the negotiations — though that appeared to be what Trump did in his tweet.
NPR’s Mara Liasson asked separately about the difference between Trump’s comment and Sanders’. “What is the President’s definition of complete denuclearization?” she asked.
“I’m not going to negotiate with you guys,” Sanders said. “I’m going to leave that to the President and Kim Jong Un to walk through what some of those details would look like when that meeting takes place. But I can be very clear that we expect it not to just be mentioned in words, but there have to be concrete actions that take place towards total denuclearization of the peninsula.”
“Does that mean removing all nukes, our nukes and theirs?” Liasson pressed, touching on what could be a crucial sticking point for the North Koreans.
Sanders didn’t get into the distinction, saying only that “there have to be concrete actions that stop the denuclearization [sic] of the peninsula.”
She added later, in response to a different question: “The President wants to do what is in the best interest of our country, and even in the world, and particularly having North Korea and the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons, I think is a good thing for everybody.”
