The President of the United States said on Thursday that the North Korean leader expressed his willingness to denuclearize the Korean peninsula during the president's first term.

"Just moments ago they put on that he said very strongly that we want to denuclearize North Korea during President Trump's tenure," Donald Trump said at a campaign rally in Billings, Montana. </s> President Donald Trump could bring a big bargaining chip to his upcoming summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un: officially ending the Korean War, which the U.S. has technically been involved in since 1950.

Trump was the first U.S. president to meet with a North Korean leader.

He and Kim held a one-on-one summit in Singapore in June.

Trump is scheduled to meet with Kim for a two-day summit in Vietnam to discuss denuclearization Feb. 27 and 28, Politico reported.

A peace treaty ending the war is “something [Kim] wants more than almost anything else,” The Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Shifting the rhetoric of the summit from denuclearization talks to peace talks would be a “risky move” that Trump may have signaled in his Feb. 5 State of the Union Address, according to the AP.

He did not mention “denuclearization” but did call for a “historic push for peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

Trump’s special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun discussed his “assignment to oversee and lead the broad diplomatic initiative to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea” during a talk at Stanford University Jan. 31.

“In President Trump, the United States has a leader who, more so than any previous president, is deeply and personally committed to once and for all bringing an end to 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula,” Biegun said.

If the two leaders achieve a peace treaty later in February, Kim would meet a goal that originated with his grandfather Kim Il Sung, the AP reported.

An agreement of that nature could bring sanctions relief to North Korea.

It could also reduce the number of U.S. troops south of the Demilitarized Zone between North Korea and South Korea.

North Korea said in December that it will not denuclearize until the U.S. removes its nuclear threat from the region first.

Trump was optimistic after his meeting with Kim in June, but the North Korean dictator has appeared to push ahead with plans for the development of his weapons programs.

RELATED: US Oil Output Hits 12 Million Barrel-a-Day Milestone Way Ahead of Schedule

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. </s> SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has given his first time line to achieve denuclearization, aiming for the end of U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term, and has agreed to a third summit with his South Korean counterpart, Seoul officials said on Thursday.

Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet in Pyongyang on Sept. 18-20 and discuss “practical measures” toward denuclearization, Moon’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, said a day after meeting Kim.

The summit could provide renewed momentum to talks over denuclearization between North Korea and the United States, after Trump canceled a visit to Pyongyang by his secretary of state last month citing lack of progress.

Kim told South Korean officials his faith in Trump was “unchanged” and that he wanted denuclearization and an end to hostile relations with the United States before Trump’s first term in office ends in early 2021, Chung said.

“He particularly emphasized that he has never said anything negative about President Trump,” Chung said.

The remarks represent Kim’s first timeline for dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

In previous, failed talks, North Korea has said it could consider giving up its nuclear program if the United States provided security guarantees by removing troops from South Korea and withdrawing its so-called nuclear umbrella of deterrence from the South and Japan.

U.S. officials involved in the latest negotiations have said North Korea has refused to even start discussions about defining “denuclearization” or other key terms such as “verifiable” and “irreversible”, and has insisted the United States must first agree to simultaneous steps to reduce economic pressure.

Chung said Kim had stressed the need for the United States to reciprocate North Korea’s initial moves, which have included dismantling a nuclear test site and a missile engine facility.

The U.S. embassy in Seoul said it had no information to share on the matter.

North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said Kim told the South’s envoys that his “fixed stand” was to turn the Korean peninsula into “a cradle of peace without nuclear weapons, free from nuclear threat”.

Chung said Kim showed “frustration over the doubt raised by some parts of the international community about his willingness to denuclearize, and asked us to convey his message to the United States”.

“He said he would appreciate that such good faith is accepted with good faith,” Chung said. “He expressed his strong will to carry out more proactive measures toward denuclearization if action is taken in response to the North’s preemptive steps.”

U.S. officials have previously said they have already made concessions, such as halting joint military exercises with South Korea.

During his meeting with Kim, Chung delivered a message from Trump and will relay comments from Kim to U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton later on Thursday, Moon’s spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters.

Trump spoke to Moon on the evening before Chung’s trip and asked Moon to act as “chief negotiator” between Washington and Pyongyang, the spokesman said.

WHAT HAPPENS FIRST?

Kim and Trump held a landmark summit in Singapore in June, in which they agreed to work toward complete denuclearization. But negotiations have made little progress, while signs North Korea has maintained work on its weapons have emerged.

Under discussion is whether denuclearization or declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War should come first.

The war ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, meaning U.S.-led U.N. forces, including South Korea, are technically still at war with the North.

“The United States shouldn’t delay any further an end-of-war declaration, which the U.S. president promised at the Singapore summit,” the North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in an editorial on Thursday.

U.S. officials have said such a declaration could weaken North Korea’s incentive for denuclearization, and create uncertainty about the purpose of 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the three-year war.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Pyongyang in July, after which North Korea accused him of making “unilateral and gangster-like demands for denuclearization” while showing little interest in ending the war.

“Looks like Kim is trying to wash away worries that talks could stall or fail, knowing well that Washington is losing patience,” said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul.

“Kim also made it clear that he needs some kind of proof Trump has abandoned the U.S.’s hostile policy before moving toward denuclearization. Kim is trying to prove his sincerity.” </s> SEOUL: Top US, South Korean and Japanese officials have discussed how to achieve a complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula ahead of upcoming inter-Korean and US-North Korean summit talks. Seoul has said previously that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to hold summit talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in late April. Seoul says Kim proposed meeting with President Donald Trump , and Trump agreed to him by the end of May.The developments have raised hopes for a potential breakthrough in the North Korean nuclear crisis.US National Security Adviser HR McMaster met his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in San Francisco for talks over the weekend on denuclearization and the summit talks.South Korea's presidential office says the three agreed to maintain close trilateral cooperation. </s> North Korea's Kim Jong Un has given his first timeline for denuclearization.

Kim says he's aiming for the end of President Donald Trump's first term, Seoul officials said on Thursday.

Kim told South Korean officials his faith in Trump was "unchanged" and that he wanted denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and an end to hostile relations with the United States.

"Kim Jong Un of North Korea proclaims 'unwavering faith in President Trump.' Thank you to Chairman Kim. We will get it done together!" the president wrote.

You may recall, President Trump had previously hailed his landmark June 12 summit with Kim as a success and said the North Korean nuclear threat was over, despite little evidence to back that assertion.

North Korean experts say Kim desperately wants some move toward peace with the United States.

"I think if were able to do that, I think we can go back to Kim Jong Un and say okay the Korean War is over. But at the same time you need to give us some sort of declaration of the size, scope, and scale of your nuclear weapons and missile programs," said Harry Kazianis, Director of Defense Studies at the Center for the National Interest.

Weeks ago, President Trump stopped Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from making a planned trip to the North, saying the timing was not right.

Pompeo, visiting New Delhi, said there was a long road ahead and "an enormous amount of work to do" on the denuclearization process.

"It is the case there is still an enormous amount of work to do," said Pompeo. "We haven't had any nuclear tests, we haven't had any missile tests, which we consider a good thing. But the work of convincing Chairman Kim to make the strategic shift that we talked for a brighter future for the people of North Korea continues."

Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet in Pyongyang on Sept. 18-20 for a third summit and discuss "practical measures" toward denuclearization, Moon's national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, said a day after meeting Kim.

The summit could provide renewed momentum to talks over denuclearization between North Korea and the United States.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department announced charges Thursday against an alleged hacker for the North Korean government in connection with a series of major cyberattacks including the 2014 assault on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

This is the first time the United States has brought such charges against a Pyongyang operative.

Park Jin Hyok, officials said, is accused of being part of a conspiracy to hack on behalf of North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau, the military intelligence agency that controls most of the country's cyber capabilities.

"North Korea's economy is the size of Vermont about $11 billion dollars. They can barely feed their own people. Yet their cyber capabilities are world class," said Kazianis.

He and other unidentified operatives are accused of being members of the Lazarus Group, which also has been implicated in the audacious attempt to steal $1 billion from the Bangladesh Bank in 2016, and to the WannaCry 2.0 virus that affected more than 230,000 computers in 150 countries last year.

Lazarus Group hackers, officials say, broke into the bank's computers and manipulated its access to a global electronic messaging system known as SWIFT, which banks use to send and receive money transfers.

 

 Pyongyang has denied allegations of hacking.

The Treasury Department on Thursday also imposed sanctions against Park and the Chosun Expo Joint Venture, a state-owned firm that employed him in Dalian, China.

"We will not allow North Korea to undermine global cybersecurity to advance its interests and generate illicit revenues in violation of our sanctions," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. "The United States is committed to holding the regime accountable for its cyberattacks and other crimes and destabilizing activities." </s> President Donald Trump could bring a big bargaining chip to his upcoming summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un: officially ending the Korean War, which the U.S. has technically been involved in since 1950.

Trump was the first U.S. president to meet with a North Korean leader.

He and Kim held a one-on-one summit in Singapore in June.

Trump is scheduled to meet with Kim for a two-day summit in Vietnam to discuss denuclearization Feb. 27 and 28, Politico reported.

A peace treaty ending the war is “something [Kim] wants more than almost anything else,” The Associated Press reported Wednesday.

TRENDING: ‘Empire’ Removes Smollett from Final Episodes as Reports Surface of On-Set Arguments, Calls for Firing

Shifting the rhetoric of the summit from denuclearization talks to peace talks would be a “risky move” that Trump may have signaled in his Feb. 5 State of the Union Address, according to the AP.

He did not mention “denuclearization” but did call for a “historic push for peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

Trump’s special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun discussed his “assignment to oversee and lead the broad diplomatic initiative to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea” during a talk at Stanford University Jan. 31.

“In President Trump, the United States has a leader who, more so than any previous president, is deeply and personally committed to once and for all bringing an end to 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula,” Biegun said.

If the two leaders achieve a peace treaty later in February, Kim would meet a goal that originated with his grandfather Kim Il Sung, the AP reported.

An agreement of that nature could bring sanctions relief to North Korea.

It could also reduce the number of U.S. troops south of the Demilitarized Zone between North Korea and South Korea.

North Korea said in December that it will not denuclearize until the U.S. removes its nuclear threat from the region first.

Trump was optimistic after his meeting with Kim in June, but the North Korean dictator has appeared to push ahead with plans for the development of his weapons programs.

RELATED: It Turns Out CNN Was Wrong About the Mueller Report Arriving Next Week

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. </s> The President of the United States Donald Trump reportedly plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on February 27-28.

The meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un is planned to take place in Vietnam, Politico reported.

Trump is reportedly expected to formally announce details of his second summit with Kim during his State of the Union address to Congress later on Tuesday night.

Earlier, the US State Department said in a press release that US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun was about to travel to Pyongyang on February 6 for talks to prepare for the second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.

The long-standing tensions on the Korean Peninsula started to ease after Kim Jong-un committed to denuclearization of Korean peninsula and held historic summits with US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. </s> SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has given his first time line for denuclearization, aiming for the end of U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term, Seoul officials said on Thursday, prompting thanks from Trump who said they would “get it done together”.

Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet in Pyongyang on Sept. 18-20 for a third summit and discuss “practical measures” toward denuclearization, Moon’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, said a day after meeting Kim.

The summit could provide renewed momentum to talks over denuclearization between North Korea and the United States, after Trump canceled a visit to Pyongyang by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month citing lack of progress.

Kim told South Korean officials his faith in Trump was “unchanged” and that he wanted denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and an end to hostile relations with the United States before Trump’s first term ends in early 2021, Chung said.

But there was no indication that Kim had offered concrete steps toward giving up his nuclear arsenal, something some U.S. officials have said privately they doubt he is willing to do.

“He particularly emphasized that he has never said anything negative about President Trump,” Chung said.

Trump welcomed Kim’s remarks in a trademark Tweet.

“Kim Jong Un of North Korea proclaims ‘unwavering faith in President Trump.’ Thank you to Chairman Kim. We will get it done together!” Trump wrote.

Trump had previously hailed his landmark June 12 summit with Kim as a success and said the North Korean nuclear threat was over, despite little evidence to back that assertion.

In previous, failed talks, North Korea has said it could consider giving up its nuclear program if the United States provided security guarantees by removing troops from South Korea and withdrawing its so-called nuclear umbrella of deterrence from the South and Japan.

U.S. officials involved in the latest negotiations have said North Korea has refused to even start discussions about defining denuclearization and has insisted the United States must first agree to simultaneous steps to reduce sanctions pressure.

Some analysts suggested Kim was flattering Trump in hopes of dividing the president from advisers who have advocated a tougher U.S. stand.

“Kim just owns Trump. He knows his mark,” Vipin Narang, a political scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who specializes in nuclear issues, said in a message on Twitter.

‘ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF WORK TO DO’

Pompeo, on a trip to New Delhi, said there was still “an enormous amount of work to do” on the denuclearization issue.

He visited Pyongyang in July, after which North Korea accused him of making “unilateral and gangster-like demands for denuclearization”.

Asked about U.S. intelligence that North Korea was still advancing its weapons programs, Pompeo noted Pyongyang had ceased its nuclear tests and test-firing missiles, which he said was a “good thing.”

Chief of the national security office at Seoul's presidential Blue House Chung Eui-yong meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, North Korea. The Presidential Blue House /via REUTERS

“But the work of convincing Chairman Kim to make this strategic shift that we’ve talked about for a brighter future for the people of North Korea continues,” Pompeo said.

The State Department later said Pompeo was sending his newly appointed North Korea envoy, Stephen Biegun, to South Korea, China and Japan from Sept. 10-15.

Signaling that Washington’s concerns extend beyond Pyongyang’s nuclear program, the U.S. government on Thursday charged and sanctioned an alleged North Korean hacker over the 2017 global WannaCry ransomware cyberattack, the 2014 cyber assault on Sony Corp. and other “malign cyber activities.”

Chung said Kim had stressed the need for the United States to reciprocate North Korea’s initial moves, which have included dismantling a nuclear test site and a missile engine facility.

“We support progress in inter-Korean relations and President Moon’s statements that such progress must go hand-in-hand with denuclearization,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council (NSC) said when asked about the meeting

North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said Kim told the South’s envoys that his “fixed stand” was to turn the Korean peninsula into “a cradle of peace without nuclear weapons, free from nuclear threat”.

Chung said Kim showed “frustration over the doubt raised by some parts of the international community about his willingness to denuclearize, and asked us to convey his message to the United States”.

“He expressed his strong will to carry out more proactive measures toward denuclearization if action is taken in response to the North’s preemptive steps,” Chung said.

Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, said: “Looks like Kim is trying to wash away worries that talks could stall or fail, knowing well that Washington is losing patience.”

U.S. officials have previously said they have already made conciliatory gestures, such as suspending joint military exercises with South Korea.

During his meeting with Kim, Chung delivered a message from Trump and will relay comments from Kim to U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, Moon’s spokesman, Kim Eui-kyeom, told reporters. Chung later spoke to Bolton, the NSC official said.

Trump spoke to Moon on the evening before Chung’s trip and asked Moon to act as “chief negotiator” between Washington and Pyongyang, the spokesman said.

However, a three-way summit between Trump, Kim and Moon - an idea that South Korea has floated - is not expected on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York this month, Chung said, suggesting that Kim is not likely to become the first North Korean leader to attend the gathering.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised the Koreas for their trust-building efforts and expressed hope for further progress toward “complete and verifiable denuclearization,” his spokesman said.

WHAT HAPPENS FIRST?

Kim and Trump held an unprecedented summit in Singapore in June, in which the North Korean leader made a broad, vague commitment to work toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. But negotiations have stalled, while signs North Korea has maintained work on its weapons have emerged.

Under discussion is whether North Korean denuclearization or declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War should come first.

Slideshow (2 Images)

The war ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, meaning U.S.-led U.N. forces are technically still at war with the North.

“The United States shouldn’t delay any further an end-of-war declaration, which the U.S. president promised at the Singapore summit,” the North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said.

U.S. officials have said such a declaration could weaken North Korea’s incentive for denuclearization, and create uncertainty about the purpose of 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. </s> Since the Korean War ended with a truce instead of a peace treaty in 1953, North and South Korea have technically been at war.

Now, according to a unidentified South Korean official, the two countries are discussing plans to announce an official end to the conflict, South Korean newspaper Munhwa Ilbo reported Tuesday.

A South Korean official said the South hopes the North will “confirm a commitment to give up its nuclear program” during a summit between the two countries scheduled for April 27.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are set to meet in the border village of Panmunjom — the first summit to take place since 2007, Reuters reported.

It will also mark the first time a North Korean leader has set foot in the South since the Korean War.

South Korean presidential chief of staff Im Jon told reporters that lawmakers from the two Koreas are negotiating what will be said in a joint statement to be released at the summit’s end.

The statement would most likely focus on denuclarization and peace on the Korean peninsula, as well as an improvement in relations with other nations like the United States, Reuters reported.

“This summit is significant because it will set the stage for the North Korea-U.S. summit, and even a possible three-way summit between the countries,” Im said.

“Without U.S. support and agreement, it will be difficult to follow through on inter-Korean agreements.”

In March, South Korea’s national security adviser said Kim was committed to denuclearization and expressed willingness to meet with President Donald Trump.

If Trump and Kim meet in May or June as expected, it would mark the first meeting between two sitting leaders of the two countries.

“Even though our special envoys confirmed his denuclearisation will, it is entirely different if the two leaders confirm it directly among themselves and put that into text,” Im said.

RELATED: KJU to Trump: We’re Ready To Discuss Abandoning Our Nukes

“We expect the summit will confirm the denuclearisation will (of North Korea), and hope to have a comprehensive agreement with the North on the matter.”

Seoul-based university professor John Delury told Bloomberg that negotiating a peace treaty could be as complicated as denuclearization.

“Ending the state of conflict is the core of the whole thing. Peace is as complicated as denuclearization,” Delury said. “There also has to be a process of actually delivering the peace.”

What do you think? Scroll down to comment below.
Kim gives a timeline for denuclearization, aiming for completion by the end of U.S. President Donald Trump's first term.