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US President Donald Trump (right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping hold a bilateral summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Dec. 1. (Yonhap News)
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Comments seen as US willingness to continue dialogue with North Korea
US President Donald Trump expressed his “friendship and respect” for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un while speaking to Chinese President Xi Jinping, the White House reported. Trump’s remarks are thought to emphasize that the US remains committed to engaging in dialogue with North Korea, even though its denuclearization talks with the North appear to have stalled. In a statement that summarized the outcome of the China-US summit that was held on Dec. 1, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “It was also agreed that great progress has been made with respect to North Korea and that President Trump, together with President Xi, will strive, along with Chairman Kim Jong Un, to see a nuclear free Korean Peninsula. President Trump expressed his friendship and respect for Chairman Kim.” It’s unusual for the American leader to treat a statement summarizing a bilateral summit with one country as an opportunity to express his “friendship and respect” for the leader of an entirely different country. Trump has previously expressed his and Kim’s mutual respect both in June, when the North Korea-US negotiations were speeding up, and when North Korea said during the third inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang in September that denuclearization would be carried out during Trump’s term in office. Just as on those previous occasions, Trump seems set on emphasizing his firm commitment to dialogue with the North. While relating the outcome of the China-US summit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that “the leaders of China and the US exchanged opinions about issues on the Korean Peninsula” and that “China supports another meeting between the leaders of North Korea and the US.” Trump has previously expressed his distrust of China, calling Xi Jinping a “world-class poker player” and claiming that China is having a negative impact on North Korea-US negotiations as it attempts to get an advantage in its trade dispute with the US. But now that the US and China have called a “ceasefire” in their trade war, many expect a gradual resumption of bilateral cooperation toward resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. This seemed apparent in Wang Yi’s comments: “We hope that both North Korea and the US will move together toward achieving the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and building a peace regime there while being considerate of each other’s reasonable concerns. The US praised China’s active role [in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue], and China wants to maintain communication and cooperation with the US.” The “reasonable concerns” mentioned by Wang are presumed to include the “corresponding measures” that North Korea insists that the US take, which include providing a security guarantee and partially lifting sanctions. By Gil Yun-hyung, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
