Trump-Kim meeting only if North Korea fulfills promises: White House

Washington: The meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would go as planned if Pyongyang sticks to the promises it made, particularly regarding missiles and nuclear test, the White House said on Monday.

Last week, a South Korean delegation, led by its national security advisor, informed Trump that Kim Jong-un has invited him to a meeting. The invitation conveyed to orally, was accepted by Trump, a decision that took the world by surprise.

“We fully expect that it (the meeting) will (take place). The offer was made and we’ve accepted. North Korea made several promises and we hope that they would stick to those promises and, if so, the meeting will go on as planned,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters at her daily news conference.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is continuing to prepare on a number of levels for the meeting. “Most of that is an inter-administration, interagency process and I’m not going to get ahead of any of the details of the where, the when, or any of that here today,” she said, responding to a series of questions on the meeting between the two leaders.

Sanders said that the maximum pressure campaign on North Korea is working. “We know that they have responded due to that, and they have pushed this message through the South Koreans to us. We have accepted their invitation on the three promises that they made, and are going to move forward in this process,” she said.

Meanwhile, in New York, US National Security Advisor HR McMaster and US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, briefed members of the UN Security Council on developments related to North Korea. During the meeting, McMaster and Haley urged the international community to maintain maximum pressure on the North Korean regime and asked Council members to devote the political will and resources necessary to fully implement UN Security Council resolutions to hold the regime accountable.

“The announcement of a meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim is a historic opportunity that holds great potential for the world,” Haley said. “While we can’t say whether Kim’s offer is genuine, we can say that this historic meeting would not have been possible without the international community’s participation in the maximum pressure campaign, initiated by the Trump Administration, and a commitment to holding North Korea accountable through three strong UN sanctions resolutions in 2017, she said.