Trump plays down North Korea’s missile test, hopes Kim keeps promise to denuclearize
Tokyo, : US President Donald Trump said he was not disturbed by North Korea’s short range missile tests and still had confidence that the country’s leader Kim Jong Un would keep his promise to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.
“North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me. I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me,” Trump tweeted on Sunday.
This is a major blow ahead of his meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe where he is set to discuss about North Korea’s nuclear programme, the Guardian reported.
Trump’s tweet has come a day after his national security adviser said there was no doubt the launches violated UN security council resolutions.
His adviser John Bolton said on Saturday UN resolutions prohibited the launch of any ballistic missiles and urged Kim Jong-un to return to denuclearisation talks.
Meanwhile, the Japanese government has said that North Korea’s recent test of short range missiles violated UN resolutions.
In early May, North Korea held several launches, including tests of short-range missiles and at that time also Trump said he did not view the missile launches as a breach of trust.
Since 2018, North Korea has been engaged in denuclearization talks with the United States. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump expressed their commitment for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at their first bilateral meeting in Singapore last June.
The two leaders met for the second time in Vietnam in February. However, their talks abruptly finished without any declaration or agreement after the parties failed to reach a consensus on what each of them was ready to give up in order to secure the deal.
UNI.