Aju Business Daily

HANOI -- U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to have embarrassed North Korean officials with an unexpected demand that more than well-known facilities in the North's main nuclear complex in Yongbyon should be subject to denuclearization and verification by outside inspectors.

Using a vague terminology such as "areas," Trump said the United States knows about certain places and sites for inspections that peopled did not know. "He wants to denuke, but he wants to just do areas that are less important than the areas we want."

"We know things ... certain places, and certain sites. There were sites that people don't know about, but we know about. We would be able to do inspections," the American leader said, blaming Kim for asking for full sanctions relief by listing less important areas.

"We brought many, many points up that I think they were surprised that we knew," Trump said without pinpointing any locations. He definitely expressed dissatisfaction with steps Kim offered to take for his vision of denuclearization such as the shutdown of facilities in the Yongbyon nuclear complex.

The complex in Yongbyon about 100 km north of Pyongyang has been at the center of attention since Kim agreed to push for denuclearization under a landmark peace agreement in the first summit in Singapore eight months ago.

The complex has been used to produce fissile material for six nuclear tests from 2006 to 2017. Major installations include a 5-megawatt experimental reactor, a fuel fabrication plant, a spent fuel storage facility, a fuel reprocessing facility that recovers uranium and plutonium from spent fuel

"We had to have more than that (Yongbyon) because there are other things that you haven't talked about," Trump said. "It was done a long time ago, but people didn't know about."

Boasting of advanced U.S. spy equipment, Trump said that "every inch" of the isolated country has been closely monitored.  "We know the country very well. Believe it or not. We know every inch of that country and we have to get what we have to get."