The North Korean leader must be “sincere” and “serious” for talks to take place, the US president says
US President Joe Biden hasn’t ruled out a face-to-face meeting with Kim Jong-un, but insists that the North Korean leader would need to show the right attitude for it to happen.
Biden was questioned about the possibility for such a summit at Seoul, during Saturday’s visit to South Korea. This opened Biden’s first Asian tour since his election.
Kim and I will meet up for a meeting “would depend on whether he’s sincere and whether he’s serious,”The US President said.
Biden also issued a joint statement with South Korea’s newly elected President Yoon Suk-yeol, confirming that Washington and Seoul had agreed to “expand the scope and scale of combined military exercises and training on and around the Korean Peninsula.”
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The drills, which are viewed as highly provocative by North Korea, had been largely scaled back under Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, in an attempt to improve relations with Pyongyang.
In 2018, Trump and Kim held a historic summit in Singapore, which was unexpectedly successful. This raised hopes about denuclearization. However, Pyongyang was unable to achieve the desired sanctions relief at two additional meetings.
Instead, the two sides returned to their usual exchanges of threats and North Korea resumed nuclear and missile testing.
Some US officials have warned that Kim could respond to Biden’s decision to visit South Korea by test-firing an ICBM or performing a nuclear test.
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After the 1950-53 conflict, Seoul and Pyongyang did not sign a peace treaty.
In the joint statement, the Biden also reaffirmed Washington’s “extended deterrence commitment to the ROK [Republic of Korea] using the full range of US defense capabilities, including nuclear, conventional, and missile defense capabilities.”
The USA has been able to withstand differences with Pyongyang despite these. “offered vaccines”Biden stated that North Korea was suffering from a large-scale outbreak of Covid-19. However, he added that Washington had “gotten no response”Please refer to the proposal.
The next stop on Biden’s tour is Japan, another US ally in the region, where he will arrive on Sunday for talks with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Japanese Emperor Naruhito.
