President Trump said Monday in Singapore that the U.S. agreed to stop conducting war games around North Korea, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to destroy a missile engine test site — two points not included in the historic joint statement the two leaders signed.
[READ: Here’s the full text of ‘historic’ document Trump, Kim signed at North Korea summit]
“Chairman Kim has told me that North Korea is already destroying a major missile engine testing site, that is not in your signed document, we agreed to that after the agreement was signed,” Trump said at a solo press conference in Singapore after Kim left the summit meeting.
“That’s a big thing, the missiles that they were testing, the site is going to be destroyed very soon,” he said.
Trump added moments later, “we will be stopping the war games, which will be saving us a tremendous amount of money, unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should. But we’ll be saving a tremendous amount of money, plus I think it is very provocative.”
Trump said he believed it was “inappropriate” to conduct war games with South Korea while the two sides are in the middle of a new agreement aimed at defusing the Korean Peninsula.
The four points in a joint declaration that Trump and Kim signed earlier in the day said:
- 1. The United States and the DPRK commit to establish new US-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.
- 2. The United States and DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.
- 3. Reaffirming the April 27, 2018, Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
- 4. The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.
Trump spoke at 4 p.m. local time on Monday, which was carried live on U.S. TV networks at 4 a.m. Eastern time.
“Today is the beginning of an arduous process. our eyes are wide open but peace is always worth the effort, especially in this case,” Trump said.
“Anyone can make war, only the most courageous can make peace,” he said.
In response to a reporter’s question, Trump said that “I want significant improvement” on human rights inside North Korea, but he did not identify a particular agreement on the point.
[Related: CNN’s Jim Acosta shouts at Kim Jong Un: ‘Will you give up your nuclear weapons, sir?’]
