President Trump: North Korea remains a major threat to the United States
US President Donald Trump suddenly "changed his tone" when he said that North Korea is still a major threat to the US.
The announcement came just days after he said Pyongyang's nuclear program was no longer a concern.
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| US President Donald Trump. Photo: The Source. |
According to AP, Mr. Trump extended the “national emergency” for another year in an executive order, reauthorizing economic restrictions against North Korea while declaring the country still poses an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States.
The statement came just nine days after the US President tweeted that there was no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea, since his summit with leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore.
The new statement said that “the existence and risk of proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material” and the actions and policies of the Government of North Korea “continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
The US national emergency began in 2008 and was a sign of lingering tensions between the US and North Korea as North Korea moved closer to developing a nuclear warhead that could reach the US. But in a historic meeting on June 12, Mr. Kim agreed to “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula.
The two sides will still have to negotiate the terms for North Korea to give up its weapons and have sanctions lifted — something the US government has failed to do in nearly a quarter of a century.
Earlier, the US President said at a cabinet meeting on June 21 that North Korea's denuclearization process had begun, although Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters the day before that he had no information about Pyongyang's steps toward denuclearization, and detailed negotiations had yet to begin./.
