The Democratic chair of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel, says North Korean leader Kim Jong-un cannot be trusted and has done nothing to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Engel made the remarks at a Capitol Hill event Tuesday organized by civic leaders from the Korean American community.

The New York representative called for very strong steps and safeguards regarding North Korea's denuclearization, adding that summits between U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim have not "brought to fruition" such things.

Engel also said he does not believe another meeting between Trump and Kim should occur unless the North takes substantial steps toward discarding its nuclear weapons and ability to make them again.

He cautioned, however, that the regime's ability to build a nuclear bomb can never be taken away once it obtains that knowledge.

[Photo : YONHAP News]