The US president and Japanese PM agree maximum pressure will be kept on North Korea
Shinzo Abe (left) with Donald Trump. Pics/AP and AFP
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US President Donald Trump has warned that if his planned talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are "not fruitful" he will "walk out". Trump said he will be meeting with Kim in the coming weeks to discuss the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. At a joint news conference, Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said maximum pressure must be maintained on North Korea over nuclear disarmament.
"If we don't think it's going to be successful.. we won't have it. We won't have it. If I think it's a meeting that is not going to be fruitful, we are not going to go," Trump said. "If the meeting, when I'm there is not fruitful, I will respectfully leave the meeting and will continue what we are doing or whatever it is that we'll continue, but something will happen," Trump said a day after he said that he is likely to meet Kim in June or before that.
Officials from the two countries are looking at five different venues for the meeting. None of them are in the US. Trump said the release of three American prisoners in North Korea would be among the topics of his discussion with Kim. "Hopefully, that meeting will be a great success and we're looking forward to it," Trump said, adding that it would be tremendous for the world if the meeting went well.
Trump expressed hope that the Korean Peninsula could live together "in safety, prosperity, and peace" following a series of meetings between North Korea and South Korea. North Korea has been isolated for decades because of its alleged human rights abuses and its pursuit of nuclear weapons, in defiance of international laws and UN sanctions. It has carried out six nuclear tests, and has missiles that it says could reach the US mainland. Trump said the release of three American prisoners in North Korea would be among the topics of his discussion with Kim.
Kim Jong Un (left) with Ri Sol Ju
Kim elevates wife to position of First Lady
Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has given his young, stylish wife the title of First Lady in what analysts say is a major boost to her status ahead of back-to-back summits with South Korea and the United States. Ri Sol Ju has often accompanied Kim to official events, but made her first solo public appearance last weekend at a ballet performance by a visiting Chinese troupe. The North's state media reported the outing referring to her as the "respected First Lady" - the first time the title has been used in more than 40 years, and with the addition of an adjective usually reserved for the country's leaders.
A peace treaty 'must be pursued':âu00c2u0080u00c2u0088S Korea
A peace treaty to formally end the Korean War "must be pursued", South Korean President Moon Jae-in said, ahead of a summit with Kim Jong Un, leader of the nuclear-armed North. The 1950-53 Korean War ended in a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two sides technically at war.
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