Ahead of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, President Trump says he won’t accept less than “full denuclearization” in any deal he makes. In exchange, Kim wants sanctions relief and a promise that the U.S. won’t invade North Korea, reports CBS News’ Weijia Jiang.
A lot of heads are still spinning as Kim continues his attempted transformation from dictator to diplomat. In addition to promising to close the North’s main nuclear test site next month, Kim also seems to be acknowledging for the first time that “denuclearization” does actually mean giving up his weapons, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.
According to the South Koreans, Kim said at the summit that if his country receives, “promises for an end to the war and a non-aggression treaty, then why would we need to live in difficulty by keeping our nuclear weapons?”
In a gesture of goodwill, North Korea is now going to realign its time zone with South Korea’s. In 2015, Kim moved the North’s clocks back 30 minutes to what became known as “Pyongyang time.”
South Korea has said, meanwhile, that it is removing the massive loudspeakers at its border with North Korea that were used to blast propaganda and Korean pop music. The two countries say they want to turn the DMZ into what they are calling a “genuine peace zone.”
China has largely been on the sidelines during this flurry of diplomacy, notes Tracy, but it is getting back in the game this week, sending its top diplomat to North Korea.
Mr. Trump said his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will probably take place in the next three or four weeks. Possible locations for the meeting include Singapore — the Trump administration’s top choice — or Mongolia, which Kim could reach by train.
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