President Trump told Fox News he’s open to allowing North Korea to gradually dismantle its nuclear weapons program, hours after officials in Pyongyang claimed they demolished the country’s only nuclear test site.
“We are going to see. I would like to have it done immediately. But … physically, a phase-in may be a little bit necessary,” Trump said in an interview that aired Thursday. He added that he would demand a “rapid phase-in.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly called for total denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula before any sanctions are lifted against the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But Trump’s comments appeared to suggest for the first time that the U.S. could support a deal that allows Kim to steadily wind down his nuclear and ballistic missiles program over some period of time.
The scheduled June 12 summit between Trump and Kim in Singapore, where a nuclear agreement would likely begin to take shape, remains in jeopardy as the Kim regime continues to threaten withdrawal.
“Right now we’re looking at it, we’re talking about it. And they’re talking to us,” Trump told Fox News. He said there is still “a good chance” his face-to-face meeting with Kim happens.
“if that happens, it would be a great thing for North Korea. Most importantly it would be a great thing for the world, so we’ll see what happens,” the president said.
