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| File photo: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un provides guidance with Ri Hong Sop (3rd L) and Hong Sung Mu (L) on a nuclear weapons program in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang |
The United States is still hopeful about a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un but President Donald Trump is prepared for a tough negotiation process, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Wednesday.
North Korea threw next monthโs summit between Kim and Trump into doubt on Wednesday, threatening weeks of diplomatic progress by saying it may reconsider if Washington insists it unilaterally gives up its nuclear weapons.
โWeโre still hopeful that the meeting will take place and weโll continue down that path but at the same time weโve been prepared that these could be tough negotiations,โ Sanders said in an interview with Fox News.
โThe president is ready if the meeting takes place. If it doesnโt, weโll continue the maximum pressure campaign thatโs been ongoing.โ
Sanders said the comments from North Korea were โnot something that is out of the ordinary in these types of operations.โ
โThe presidentโs fully prepared and fully ready to carry on in these conversations both leading up to and if the meeting takes place,โ she said. โHeโll be there and heโll be ready.โ
According to North Koreaโs official KCNA news agency, Pyongyangโs first vice minister of foreign affairs, Kim Kye Gwan, specifically criticized U.S. national security adviser John Bolton, who has called for the North to quickly give up its nuclear arsenal in a deal that mirrors Libyaโs abandonment of its weapons of mass destruction.
Sanders played down those concerns. โI havenโt seen that as part of any discussions so Iโm not aware that thatโs a model that weโre using,โ she told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
The Trump-Kim meeting is scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.
