- Sputnik International
Asia
Find top stories and features from Asia and the Pacific region. Keep updated on major political stories and analyses from Asia and the Pacific. All you want to know about China, Japan, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan, Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Trump is Open to Further Talks With North Korea - Bolton

© REUTERS / Leah MillisNorth Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump talk in the garden of the Metropole hotel during the second North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam February 28, 2019
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump talk in the garden of the Metropole hotel during the second North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam February 28, 2019 - Sputnik International
Subscribe
US National Security Adviser John Bolton said that US President Donald Trump is open to further talks with North Korea over denuclearization.

"The president's obviously open to talking again. We'll see when that might be scheduled or how it might work out," Bolton said.

In turn, Akira Kawasaki, a senior member of the Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), said that the US should immediately engage in negotiations with North Korea,

"The US should take an immediate action to meet and talk [to] their counterparts of North Korea to restore communication and trust," Kawasaki, who represented ICAN at US-North Korea summits in Singapore and Hanoi, said.

READ MORE: No Reason to Change UN Security Council Sanctions on North Korea — German Envoy

He noted that the international community should also support the process by "facilitating dialogue and providing technical information regarding relevant international treaties," including the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

"Even countries that are not ready to join the Treaty, like the US, need to stop their active resistance to it and make it clear that they support the aim of the TPNW and will begin to fulfil their nuclear disarmament obligations," Kawasaki stressed.

The ICAN member added that the restoration of the missile test site would be a "step in the wrong direction," highlighting the need to resume negotiations between the United States and North Korea.

"At this stage, this could more be a political message in search for a resumption of dialogue than a military preparation. Actual missile or nuclear tests would destroy the dialogue," he said.

He pointed out that the move might be showing how "flawed" the negotiating process had been.

"Simply, preparations on both sides have been too short," he stressed.

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands before their one-on-one chat during the second U.S.-North Korea summit at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam February 27, 2019 - Sputnik International
Asia
North Korea Could Become US Military Partner - South Korean Presidential Aide
READ MORE: UN Chief Hopes Denuclearization Talks With North Korea Continue — Spokesman

Earlier in the day, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the South Korean National Intelligence Service, that Pyongyang seemed to be still operating uranium enrichment facilities at the Yongbyon nuclear site.

The reports emerged just days after the second Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi, which finished abruptly without any deal or declaration due to the parties' failure to agree on the scale of North Korea’s denuclearization and US-led sanctions relief.

The TPNW is a legally binding agreement that bans all nuclear weapons. It was adopted in July 2017, but is not in force yet. None of the 'Nuclear Five' — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — have signed the treaty.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала