[SUMMIT] Trump pledges security guarantees in return for denuclearization

By Lim Chang-won Posted : June 12, 2018, 16:52 Updated : June 12, 2018, 16:52

[REUTERS / Yonhap]


SINGAPORE -- The United States will provide security guarantees in return for North Korea's complete denuclearization under a joint statement signed by the leaders of the two Cold War adversaries at their historic summit Tuesday in Singapore.

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un discussed issues related to the establishment of new relations and the building of a lasting and robust peace regime on the Korean peninsula, according to the joint statement.

Trump gave his commitment to providing security guarantees to North Korea and Kim reaffirmed his "firm and unwavering" commitment to completing denuclearization, the statement said, adding North Korea would work toward complete denuclearization as it pledged in a declaration signed at an inter-Korean summit in April.

However, the statement did not mention consistent U.S. demands for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID), sparking speculation that Trump and Kim revealed differences over how to achieve denuclearization.

CVID has been Washington's goal, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that the United States would make sure to verify any dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program. Pompeo said that Washington would not lift sanctions against North Korea until CVID is achieved.

There will be follow-on negotiations, led by Pompeo and a high-level North Korean official "at the earliest possible date", the statement said.

Trump and Kim gave their commitment to establishing new relations, the statement said, adding efforts will be made to build a "lasting and stable" peace regime on the Korean peninsula, reflecting a campaign by South Korean President Moon Jae-in to sign an inter-Korean peace treaty guaranteed by the superpowers.

Kim and Trump acknowledged that the summit was "an epochal event of great significance in overcoming decades of tensions and hostilities" between the two countries, which fought against each other during the 1950-53 Korean War.

The two countries will resume their stalled work to recover the remains of American soldiers killed or missing during the inter-Korean conflict that ended with no peace treaty signed, leaving the two Koreas technically at war for more than six decades.


 
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