Trump in 'no rush' to denuclearize North Korea

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – The U.S. is in no hurry to denuclearize North Korea, according to President Donald Trump.

“As long as there's not testing, I'm in no rush,” said Trump late Tuesday, just days ahead of his second summit with North Korea’s leader in Hanoi set for Feb. 27-28.

However, Trump told reporters at the White House that the U.S. goals regarding North Korea remain the same.

“I'd just like to see, ultimately, denuclearization of North Korea,” he said, but added that he has “no pressing time schedule.”

This contradicted remarks by his Pyongyang envoy Stephen Biegun, who last week told a visiting South Korean delegation last week in Washington: “With only two weeks until the summit, it will be difficult to resolve all the tricky issues, but there's a chance if we can agree on a timeline [for denuclearization].”

Referring to the lull in North Korea's testing of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles since late 2017, Trump said: “If there's testing, that's another deal.”

Last June, Trump and Kim held a summit in Singapore which led to North Korea's commitment to “work toward” complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from the U.S.

Trump also said that he spoke to his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in Monday morning to “discuss the upcoming summit.”