Trump’s roadmap for denuclearization unveiled

U.S. President Donald Trump has revealed his roadmap for North Korea’s denuclearization based on the sequence of declaring the end of the war, achieving complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization, and normalizing ties. Trump also said that he may invite North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the White House if the June 12 summit in Singapore goes well.

At a joint press conference following a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Thursday (local time), President Trump noted that all preparations for the summit with (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un have been made. “We could sign an agreement. As you know, that would be a first step,” said Trump when asked about the idea of signing an agreement to end the war. “But that’s really the beginning. That’s probably the easy part. The hard part remains after that,” he added, suggesting that procedures towards complete denuclearization are far from being simple.

“Normalizing relations is something that I would expect to do, I would hope to do, when everything is complete,” Trump also said about normalizing relations with Pyongyang. This was the first time that he explicitly mentioned a willingness to pursue the declaration of the end of the war and the normalization of bilateral ties, signaling that a roadmap is centered on the principle of “denuclearization first, and normalizing ties later.” Trump’s latest comments of ending the war, establishing relations with the North, and even inviting Kim to the White House all point to a possibility that North Korea may have made considerable concessions at the working-level talks.


Sung-Ha Joo zsh75@donga.com · Yong Park parky@donga.com