TEHRAN, April 22 - U.S. President Donald Trump said the North Korean nuclear crisis is far from conclusion on Sunday, striking a cautious note a day after the North's pledge to end its nuclear tests raised hopes before planned summits with South Korea and the United States.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - "We are a long way from conclusion on North Korea, maybe things will work out, and maybe they won’t - only time will tell," Trump said on Twitter.
North Korea said on Saturday it was suspending nuclear and missile tests and scrapping its nuclear test site, and instead pursuing economic growth and peace.
World leaders welcomed the announcement, which came before the first North Korea-South Korea summit in more than a decade on Friday.
In a tweet minutes before sounding a more cautious tone, Trump interpreted the North's statement as a pledge to denuclearize: "Wow, we haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearization (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!"
However, Kim's announcement did not include a commitment to scrap existing nuclear weapons and missiles, and there are doubts he would ever give up the nuclear arsenal his country has been developing for decades.
Kim said North Korea no longer needed to test nuclear bombs or intercontinental ballistic missiles now that his country had the weapons, and he would gear all efforts toward economic development.
Some have expressed doubts about the North's intentions and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will be under intense international scrutiny when he meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday.
"North Korea has a long history of raising the issue of denuclearization and has committed to freeze its nuclear weapons programs in the past. We all remember how those pledges and commitments went down over past decades," said Nam Sung-wook, a professor of North Korean Studies at Korea University in Seoul.
"Although the North's announcement is quite dramatic, it's natural for the world to be extra sensitive to every word spoken by Kim."
Source: Reuters
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