TEHRAN, June 15 - Tough sanctions will remain on North Korea until its complete denuclearization, the U.S. secretary of state said on Thursday, apparently contradicting the North's view that the process agreed at this week's summit would be phased and reciprocal.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) -U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a joint statement after their meeting in Singapore this week that reaffirmed the North's commitment to "work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula", while Trump "committed to provide security guarantees".
Trump later told a news conference he would end joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises.
"President Trump has been incredibly clear about the sequencing of denuclearization and relief from the sanctions," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters after meeting South Korea's president and Japan's foreign minister in Seoul.
"We are going to get complete denuclearization; only then will there be relief from the sanctions," he said.
North Korean state media reported on Wednesday that Kim and Trump had recognized the principle of "step-by-step and simultaneous action" to achieve peace and denuclearization on the Korean peninsula.
The summit statement provided no details on when North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons program or how the dismantling might be verified.
Skeptics of how much the meeting achieved pointed to the North Korean leadership's long-held view that nuclear weapons are a bulwark against what it fears are U.S. plans to overthrow it and unite the Korean peninsula.
However, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the world, through the summit, had escaped the threat of war, echoing Trump's upbeat assessment of his meeting with Kim.
"What's most important was that the people of the world, including those in the United States, Japan and Koreans, have all been able to escape the threat of war, nuclear weapons and missiles," Moon told Pompeo.
Pompeo insisted North Korea was committed to giving up its nuclear arsenal but said it would "be a process, not an easy one".
Kim understood getting rid of his nuclear arsenal needed to be done quickly and there would only be relief from stringent U.N. sanctions on North Korea after its "complete denuclearization", Pompeo said.
Moon later said South Korea would be flexible when it comes to military pressure on North Korea if it is sincere about denuclearization.
Source: Reuters
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