US President Donald Trump has warned that if his planned talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are “not fruitful” he will “walk out”. Trump said he will be meeting with Kim in the coming weeks to discuss the de-nuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
At a joint news conference, Trump and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe on Wednesday said maximum pressure must be maintained on North Korea over nuclear disarmament.
“If we don’t think it’s going to be successful.. We won’t have it. We won’t have it. If I think it’s a meeting that is not going to be fruitful, we are not going to go,” Trump said.
“If the meeting, when I’m there is not fruitful, I will respectfully leave the meeting and will continue what we are doing or whatever it is that we’ll continue, but something will happen,” Trump said a day after he told reporters that he is likely to meet Kim in June or before that. Officials from the two countries are looking at five different venues for the meeting. None of them are in the US.
“Hopefully, that meeting will be a great success and we’re looking forward to it,” Trump said, adding that it would be tremendous for the world if the meeting went well.
Trump expressed hope that the Korean Peninsula could live together “in safety, prosperity, and peace” following a series of meetings between North Korea and South Korea.
“This is the destiny of the Korean people, who deserve and have gone through so much over the years. We hope it all works it and we’ll be trying very hard,” he added.
North Korea has been isolated for decades because of its alleged human rights abuses and its pursuit of nuclear weapons, in defiance of international laws and UN sanctions. It has carried out six nuclear tests, and has missiles that it says could reach the US mainland. Trump said the release of three American prisoners in North Korea would be among the topics of his discussion with Kim.