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President Donald Trump is open to talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “without any preconditions,” a White House official said, as South Korea’s unification minister warned Pyongyang’s missiles could reach the U.S. mainland.
“President Trump in his first term held three historic summits with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un that stabilized the Korean Peninsula. U.S. policy on North Korea has not changed,” a White House official told Fox News Digital. “President Trump remains open to talking with Kim Jong Un, without any preconditions.”
South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young used blunt language in Berlin this week, telling reporters, “North Korea has become one of the three countries capable of attacking the U.S. mainland,” according to the Yonhap News Agency. “What needs to be acknowledged should be acknowledged rationally.”
The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on Chung’s claim.
NUCLEAR THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA LOOM QUIETLY BEHIND WARS IN GAZA AND UKRAINE AT UNGA
President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un at the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea, in the Joint Security Area (JSA) of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), June 30, 2019. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Yonhap also reported that Chung said Pyongyang’s “strategic position is different” than in 2018, when Trump and Kim held their first summit in Singapore.
“Acknowledging this reality should be the starting point” in dealing with the regime, Chung told reporters.
But experts say North Korea has long held the capability to reach the U.S. mainland with intercontinental ballistic missiles.
“They’ve tested ICBMs for a long time,” said Bob Peters, senior research fellow for strategic deterrence at the Heritage Foundation.
“The question, then, for a long time, is, do they have a warhead that can go underneath a nose cone on an ICBM that goes by definition, exo atmospheric, comes down and then hits a target with some semblance of accuracy and then detonate and produce a nuclear yield,” Peters added. “That’s been the real question — do they have that capability? That’s not what it sounded like the South Korean minister said.”
TRUMP TOUTS KIM JONG UN RELATIONSHIP AMID SOUTH KOREA SUMMIT
Trump met with Kim three times during his first administration. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Kim has said dialogue with the U.S. is possible, but on his terms.
“If the United States drops the absurd obsession with denuclearizing us and accepts reality, and wants genuine peaceful coexistence, there is no reason for us not to sit down with the United States,” state media quoted Kim as saying.
A meeting with Kim would make Trump’s fourth sit-down with the dictator, at a time when his nation has once again grown increasingly hostile to U.S. interests.
In July, the White House said Trump “remains open to engaging with Leader Kim to achieve a fully denuclearized North Korea.” But North Korea asserted it would not meet the U.S. president if he was going to demand denuclearization.
On Monday, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong told the United Nations General Assembly that his country will never give up its nuclear program, Reuters reported.
Trump is scheduled to travel to Asia later this month for an economic leaders’ summit with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. A senior U.S. official said no Demilitarized Zone meeting with Kim is currently on the agenda.
Talks between Trump and Kim quieted threats between the two nations but did not lead to a denuclearized North Korea. (API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Reports have suggested Trump may meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Oct. 30-Nov. 1, though plans are still being finalized.
In a call last month, Xi invited Trump and first lady Melania Trump to visit China. Trump returned the invitation.
The same official said progress on nuclear talks depends on China.
“The first thing that would need to happen is for the Chinese to acknowledge and be more transparent about its own programs,” the official said.
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U.S. estimates put China’s nuclear arsenal at about 600 warheads in 2024, with projections of 1,000 by 2030. North Korea is believed to possess roughly 50 warheads, with enough fissile material for up to 90.
Pyongyang last year declared an “irreversible hegemonic position” after test-firing its Hwasong-19 intercontinental ballistic missile, which North Korea has claimed can strike the American mainland.
Trump is strengthening deterrence even as he keeps the option of “talks without preconditions” open.