White House: Sanctions on North Korea to continue

Donald Trump File picThe Trump administrations policy of imposing sanctions on North Korea has worked and will continue until the goal of complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula is achieved a senior White House official has said Trump imposed the heaviestever sanctions on North Koreas shipping companies last month in a bid to prevent the reclusive nation from acquiring nuclear weapons and developing intercontinental ballistic missiles The administration believes the sanctions must remain as it is really what differentiates the Presidents policy from the policies of the past the official told reporters yesterdayIf we look at the history of these negotiations that took place under prior administrations the relinquishing of pressure have often lead to concessions being made to North Korea in return for talks the official said on the condition of anonymity The official said that Trump had been very clear from the beginning that he was not prepared to reward North Korea in exchange for talks But he is willing to accept an invitation at this time to meet and really expects North Korea to start putting action to the words that were conveyed via the South Koreans the official saidThe official however said there was no letter from Kim regarding the timing of the meeting of the two leaders There was not a letter This was a message conveyed orally by Kim Jongun to the National Security Adviser of the South Korea during the several hours of meetings that they held a couple days ago in Pyongyang Ambassador Chung who is the National Security Adviser then conveyed it orally to the president today in the Oval Office the official saidDetails of the place and timing of the meeting are yet to be worked out the official saidEver since he came into office Trump has emphasised that the urgent matter of denuclearising North Korea was something that required a new approach the official said It would require us avoiding the mistakes that have been made over the past 27 years of dialogue and failed approaches to denuclearise North Korea another senior administration official said Within the matter of weeks the Trump administration had developed a policy that the president signed to maximise pressure on North KoreaThat meant maximising economic pressure isolating North Korea diplomatically and marshaling not only our resources not only the resources of our allies and friends but rally of the entire world to resolve something that is destabilising to the region and rally to the world at large the official said on condition of anonymity And so in the year that he pursued that policy he has always left the door open to dialogue at the right time the official said Yesterday Trump was briefed by South Korean National Security Adviser Chung Lee Young and South Korean intelligence director at the Oval Office US National Security Adviser Lt Gen H R McMaster Defence Secretary James Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats along with officials from the CIA were also present in the meetingThe South Korean delegation gave a readout of their meetings with the North Korean leader Kim Jongun They also conveyed a message from Kim to the president Part of that message was a commitment to denuclearised It also was a commitment to refrain from testing nuclear weapons or missiles And it was also an invitation for Trump Kim Jongun also made clear that he understands that a routine defencive exercise between the Republic of Korea and the United States will continue the official saidHe conveyed that he wants to meet with President Trump as quickly as possible President Trump has agreed to accept the invitation to meet with Kim in a matter of a couple of months The exact timing and place is still to be determined the official said Obviously verification would go hand in hand with any kind of acceptable deal to put for permanent denuclearisation of North Korea We will settle for nothing less than that outcome It is the outcome that the entire world expects it as exemplified under all of those UN Security Council resolutions he said Trump also briefed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the developments the official saidCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever