North Korea Agrees To Halt Nuclear Missile Program If Talks Are Held With U.S.

TOPSHOT - This picture taken on March 5, 2018 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 6, 2018 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (L) shaking hands with South Korean chie... TOPSHOT - This picture taken on March 5, 2018 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 6, 2018 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (L) shaking hands with South Korean chief delegator Chung Eui-yong (R), who travelled as envoys of the South's President Moon Jae-in, during their meeting in Pyongyang. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un discussed ways to ease tensions on the peninsula with visiting South Korean envoys, the state KCNA news agency reported on March 6. / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS / STR / / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS / STR / SOUTH KOREA OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has agreed to hold a landmark summit meeting with South Korea’s president next month and impose a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests if his country holds talks with the United States, a senior South Korean official said Tuesday.

Chung Eui-yong, South Korea’s presidential national security director, said the two Koreas agreed to hold their third-ever summit at a tense border village in late April. He also said the leaders will establish a “hotline” communication channel to lower military tensions, and would speak together before the planned summit.

Chung led a 10-member South Korean delegation that met with Kim during a two-day visit to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital. They returned on Tuesday.

The agreements follow a flurry of cooperative steps taken by the Koreas during last month’s Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea. Tensions had run high during the previous year because of a barrage of North Korean weapons tests.

The two past summits, in 2000 and 2007, were held between Kim’s late father, Kim Jong Il, and two liberal South Korean presidents. They resulted in a series of cooperative projects between the Koreas that were scuttled during subsequent conservative administrations in South Korea.

Chung said North Korea agreed to suspend nuclear and missile tests for as long as it holds talks with the United States.

North Korea also made it clear that it would not need to keep its nuclear weapons if military threats against it are removed and it receives a credible security guarantee, Chung said.

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  1. Avatar for zoran zoran says:

    Enter Trump (Please no!) Failed talks. Blames Obama.

  2. This is very bad news for Drumpf’s ace-in-the-hole as the Mueller probe closes in on him. As @zoran notes, Drumpf will have to upset the talks (and piss off the South Koreans in so doing). But since he’s “like, a smart person” this will all work out great. Oy!

  3. Does Trump agree? Who does he send? Is anyone inside the administration qualified? Would anyone outside the administration sign on, knowing the difficulty of dealing with Trump and where the blame falls when Trump screws it up? North Korea’s talks with the South have strengthened their position - and Pence and Ivanka look petty for ignoring them at the Olympics? And the thing is…these talks are probably more important now than any that have been tried in the past 50 years - because NoKo has the nukes.

    It would seem that the “world’s greatest negotiator” might have to do this one himself (hahahahahaha). How’s it feel to be played by “Little Rocket Man,” asshole?

  4. Avatar for tao tao says:

    Mr. Kim has given the key to continued NK nuclear weapons to the U.S. knowing full well that missile development will simply become the fault of the U.S. when the talks break down over the usual flaming garbage spew from Commander Chaos.

  5. Wasn’t hard for rocketman to figure out how to play trump.
    Took a little time and money along with throwing a few missiles with a bunch of rhetoric at trump to get him to show his hand.
    KIm held kings while the wannabe king held deuces and no wild cards.
    Now comes trumps bluff move and he already lost this hand.
    Kim keeps nukes, gets paid to keep the doors locked and trump is going to say it’s all because of his genius business mind and the world should just say, Thank You

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