Despite reports that North Korea is reactivating part of its missile programme, U.S. President Donald Trump is open to additional talks with Pyongyang over denuclearisation.
South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo and Donga Ilbo newspapers have reported activity at a factory that produced North Korea’s first intercontinental ballistic missiles.
When questioned about this development, Trump told reporters, “It’s disappointing, we’ll see. We’ll let you know in about a year.”
These reports raise fresh fingers at the probability of the dialogue between the two leaders to resume in the future. Especially, after the recent second summit between them broke down in Vietnam last week.
White House National Security Adviser John Bolton, said Trump was still open to more talks with the country.
“The president’s obviously open to talking again. We’ll see when that might be scheduled or how it might work out,” he told Fox News, adding it was too soon to make a determination on the reports of the North Korean activities.
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“We’re going to study the situation carefully. As the president said, it would be very, very disappointing if they were taking this direction.”
The Vietnam summit on Feb. 27-28 collapsed over differences about how far North Korea was willing to limit its nuclear programme and the degree of U.S. willingness to ease economic sanctions.
Despite his sanctions talk, there have been signs that the U.S. strategy of maximum pressure through sanctions could have got leaks.