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Trump: Not Ready for Pyongyang Visit

News2019-09-17

Anchor: U.S. President Donald Trump says now is probably not the right time to visit Pyongyang but that he could see doing so sometime in the future. Trump made the remarks to reporters at the White House on Monday as he was asked if North Korean leader Kim Jong-un invited him to the North Korean capital city for what would be their third summit and fourth overall meeting.
Kim Bum-soo reports. 

Report: 

[Sound bite: US President Donald Trump]
(Reporter: "Did Chairman Kim invite you to North Korea?") 
"I don't want to comment on that. The relationship is very good but I don't want to comment on that." 

U.S. President Donald Trump says it's not the right time for him to visit North Korea.

[Sound bite: US President Donald Trump] 
(Reporter: "Would you be willing to go there?")  
"I just don't think it's appropriate for me to comment." 
(Reporter: "Would you be willing to go to North Korea?")  
"Probably not. I don't think it's ready, I don't think we are ready for that. I would do it sometime, at sometime at a later future, and depending on what happens, I'm sure he'll love coming to the United States also. But no, I don't think it's ready for that. I think we've got ways to go yet."  

This came after a South Korean daily said Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un invited Trump to Pyongyang in a letter sent in August.  

Following the collapse of the Hanoi summit in February, Washington and Pyongyang haven't yet ironed out differences.  

A key North Korean Foreign Ministry official issued a statement on Monday pressing the U.S. to provide security guarantees as the two sides are trying to find common ground to restart working-level nuclear talks.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson told South Korean media the U.S. welcomes North Korea's commitment to resume negotiations later this month, as was suggested by the North's First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui last week.   
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.

[Photo : YONHAP News]

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