Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Trump upbeat about talks with Kim
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address in Washington, Tuesday, local time. AFP-Yonhap
By Kim Bo-eun
By Kim Bo-eun
U.S. President Donald Trump positively evaluated the current process to denuclearize North Korea and achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula, in his State of the Union address Tuesday (local time).
“As part of a bold new diplomacy, we continue our historic push for peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Trump said.
“Our hostages have come home, nuclear testing has stopped, and there has not been a missile launch in more than 15 months.”
The U.S. leader said the country would have been in a “major war” with North Korea if he had not become president.
Trump also said he had a “good” relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, although he added, “much work remains to be done.”
Last week, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun said Trump was ready to end the 1950-53 Korean War.
President Trump is committed to “bringing an end to 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula,” Biegun said in a speech at Stanford University.
He said the U.S. is prepared to discuss corresponding actions that could help build mutual trust and bring progress in the agreements reached by Trump and Kim at their first summit in June in Singapore.
These were establishing new relations, building a lasting peace regime on the Korean Peninsula and achieving complete denuclearization.
Ending the war is regarded as a possible corresponding action for Pyongyang's denuclearization steps, as it is one of the measures to guarantee the North Korean regime's security. It would also be the first step toward establishing a peace regime on the peninsula.
The remarks came as a second summit between Trump and Kim approaches at the end of the month.
Other possible corresponding steps may be easing sanctions for the reopening of the inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the North and resuming tours to the North's resort of Mount Geumgang, measures Pyongyang has been calling for. These will likely be addressed at ongoing working-level negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea.
Regarding sanctions, Biegun reiterated the U.S. stance that they would remain intact until complete denuclearization is achieved, but hinted this position could be eased along the way. Earlier National Security Adviser John Bolton said sanctions may be alleviated in the denuclearization process, if North Korea took significant measures showing its commitment to the goal.
Biegun stressed the need for Pyongyang to make a complete declaration of its nuclear inventory and to allow international experts to verify the dismantlement of its facilities.