US President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for diplomacy in dealing
with North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes, urging Pyongyang to
“come to the table” and saying “it makes sense for North Korea to do the
right thing.”
Trump, abandoning the aggressive rhetoric he has often used in the
past when speaking about the pariah state, also called on Russia and
China to do more to help with North Korea, which he described as a
“worldwide threat that requires worldwide action.”
“We call on every responsible nation, including China and Russia, to
demand the North Korean regime end its nuclear weapons and missile
programmes,” Trump told a joint press conference in Seoul alongside
South Korean President Moon Jae In.
The US president said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “is
threatening millions and millions of lives so needlessly” by continuing
to pursue nuclear weapons.
“I really believe it makes sense for North Korea to come to the
table,” Trump said, noting that he sees “certain movement” towards that
end on Pyongyang’s behalf.
“I think we’re making a lot of progress,” Trump added.
The president’s optimism represented a turnabout from his threats of
“fire and fury,” which he directed toward Pyongyang in August.
On Tuesday, Trump described the US military’s “strength” in the
region as a warning to North Korea to halt its nuclear ambitions, and he
added, “We hope to God we never have to use [it].”
South Korea is a “long-standing ally of the US,” Trump said, and the
relationship between the two countries is as “partners and friends who
have fought side by side in a war.”
“We cannot allow North Korea to threaten all that we have built,” Trump said.
Moon announced that he and Trump had agreed to increase the payload
for Seoul’s missile arsenal in the face of threats from Pyongyang, and
he said Trump reaffirmed the US’s “iron-clad commitment to defend South
Korea.”
“We agreed to work towards resolving the North Korean nuclear issue
in a peaceful manner and bringing permanent peace to the Korean
Peninsula,” he said.
While urging Pyongyang to halt its missile provocations, Moon also
said that “we are willing to offer North Korea a bright future.”
Trump arrived in South Korea earlier Tuesday on the second stop of his five-country tour of Asia.
Trade also played a key part in Trump and Moon’s discussions, with
the US president saying he hoped to “create lots of jobs in the United
States, which is … one of the very important reasons I’m here.”
During his 24-hour stay in South Korea, Trump does not plan to visit
the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates North and
South Korea.
On Tuesday night, Trump and his wife, first lady Melania Trump, are due to attend a state dinner at the Blue House.
Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech to the Korean National
Assembly on Wednesday morning, likely focused on the North Korea threat,
and lay a wreath at Seoul National Cemetery before departing for
Beijing.
On Monday, Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held talks in
Tokyo and agreed to maximize pressure on North Korea in order to force
the regime to abandon its nuclear and missile programmes.
Trump kicked off the longest diplomatic trip taken by any US
president in decades, arriving in the US state of Hawaii on Friday, the
first stop on a nearly two-week trip that will also take him to China,
Vietnam and the Philippines.
(dpa/NAN)