WNAM REPORT: U.S. President Donald Trump will pursue the “complete denuclearization of North Korea,” a White House official said Tuesday, amid questions over whether Trump’s recent reference to the North as a “nuclear power” signaled any policy shift.
National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes made the remarks shortly after the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited a nuclear-material production base and a nuclear weapons institute in an apparent move to highlight its military capability.
“President Trump will pursue the complete denuclearization of North Korea, just as he did in his first term,” Hughes said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency.
“President Trump had a good relationship with Kim Jong-un, and his mix of toughness and diplomacy led to the first-ever leader-level commitment to complete denuclearization,” the official added.
Hughes appears to be referring to the agreement between Trump and Kim during their first summit in Singapore in 2018. Under it, the two sides agreed to work toward the “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula and setting new bilateral relations.
Earlier in the day, a U.S. government official said that there has been no change yet in the United States’ policy toward North Korea.
“There has not been any change of policy regarding the DPRK,” the official told Yonhap News Agency on condition of anonymity. DPRK is short for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Last week, Trump referred to the North as a nuclear power — a term that U.S. officials have mostly refrained from using as it could be regarded as U.S. recognition of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also called the North a nuclear power during his confirmation hearing earlier this month.
Trump’s “nuclear power” label for the recalcitrant regime gave rise to speculation that should Trump reengage with Kim, he could seek a deal that would curb the North’s nuclear threats rather than pursuing the ultimate goal of the North’s complete denuclearization. Hughes’ remarks helped squelch that speculation.
In what could be a move to raise its leverage ahead of potential talks with the U.S., the KCNA reported that Kim visited the sites related to the North’s nuclear program, where the leader called for “overfulfilling the plan for producing weapons-grade nuclear materials and strengthening the country’s nuclear shield.”
During a recent Fox News interview, Trump said he will reach out to Kim again, portraying Kim a “smart guy” and “not a religious zealot” — an expression that apparently indicates that the dynastic ruler is someone he could communicate with again for a parley.
During his first term, Trump had three meetings with Kim — the first-ever summit in Singapore in June 2018, the Hanoi summit in February 2019 and the meeting in the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in June 2019. The U.S. and the North last held working-level nuclear talks in Stockholm in October 2019.
Some observers have said that Pyongyang’s appetite for reengagement with Washington might have dwindled as it now relies on Russia for food, fuel, security assurances and other forms of support after its provision of munitions and troops to back Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
