WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump greeted North Korea’s reported willingness to negotiate away its atomic weapons with both hope and skepticism Tuesday, insisting a potential diplomatic breakthrough be tested against the North’s long history of deception and threats to target U.S. cities with nuclear missiles.
“I really believe they are sincere,” Trump said at a White House news conference, sounding more optimistic than his intelligence chief, Dan Coats, who told a Senate hearing he has “very, very low confidence” that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un intends to give up his nuclear arms.
“Maybe this is a breakthrough. I seriously doubt it,” Coats said.
A senior South Korean presidential adviser said Tuesday that Kim expressed a willingness to discuss nuclear disarmament and halt nuclear and missile tests during future talks with the United States. The North didn’t confirm those concessions, which would amount to a dramatic about-face for a nation that has frequently vowed to preserve its nuclear arsenal at any cost.
Chung Eui-yong, the South Korean official who spoke after participating in talks with Kim in Pyongyang, also said the North Korean dictator had agreed to meet with South Korea’s president at a border village in late April.