North Korea Is Willing to Discuss Giving Up Nuclear Weapons, South Says

  • 6 years ago
North Korea Is Willing to Discuss Giving Up Nuclear Weapons, South Says
By CHOE SANG-HUN and MARK LANDLERMARCH 6, 2018
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has told South Korean envoys
that he is willing to begin negotiations with the United States on abandoning its nuclear weapons and that it would suspend all nuclear and missile tests while engaged in such talks, South Korean officials said on Tuesday.
“It made it clear that it would have no reason to keep nuclear weapons if the
military threat to the North was eliminated and its security guaranteed.”
If the statement is corroborated by North Korea, it would be the first time Mr. Kim has indicated
that his government is willing to discuss giving up nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees from the United States.
“But he said he expected them to be readjusted if the situation on the Korean Peninsula stabilizes in the future.”
Mr. Chung said the South Koreans believed that their agreements with North Korea would be enough to start a dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang.
During the envoys’ two-day visit to Pyongyang, the North’s capital, which ended on Tuesday, the two Koreas also agreed to hold a summit meeting between Mr. Kim
and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea on the countries’ border in late April, Mr. Moon’s office said in a statement.
The top South Korean envoys who returned from North Korea on Tuesday — Mr. Moon’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong,
and the director of the South’s National Intelligence Service, Suh Hoon — are expected to be dispatched to Washington this week to brief the Trump administration on their discussions with Mr. Kim.

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