North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un said it was ‘urgent’ for the U.S. and North Korea to cease‘irritating and hostile military actions against each other’ during talks on Tuesday with U.S. President Donald Trump, according North Korea’s state media.
The statement, reported by North Korean state media and picked up by wire services, comes after Trump and Kim signed a joint statement where North Korea reaffirmed its commitment ‘to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.’
Denuclearization is contingent on ceasing antagonism, Agence France Press reported hours after the conclusion of the historic summit with President Donald Trump.
The denuclearization plank was already drawing criticism for its failure to include tough language dealing with verification, inspections, limits on processing of Uranium, or destruction of weapons and ballistic missiles.
According to Reuters, Kim told Trump that North Korea and the U.S. should commit to avoid antagonizing each other – and back it up with legal and institutional steps.
Kim said in Tuesday meeting that the North and the United States should commit to avoid antagonizing each other and take legal, institutional steps to guarantee it, a report by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
According to the report, Trump said he ‘understood,’ and promised to put a halt to joint U.S.-South Korean war games.
Trump said after the summit the U.S. would stop doing ‘very provocative’ military exercises, adopting the language of North Korean critics of the exercises, which U.S> military officials have testified are necessary to maintain readiness.
In another release, KCNA reported that Kim invited Trump to visit Pyongyang at a convenient time. Trump told reporters he might host Kim in the U.S.
Trump stunned observers when he said the U.S. would cancel military exercizes held every year with South Korean allies.
Washington and Seoul are security allies, with around 30,000 US troops stationed in the South to defend it from its neighbour, which invaded in 1950.
A US Air Force B-1B Lancer, flanked by Republic of Korea Air Force F-15, dropping a 2,000 pound bomb during a joint US – South Korea drill
US Air Force B-1B bombers, F-35B stealth fighter jets and South Korean F-15K fighter jets fly over the Korean Peninsula during a joint drill
They hold joint military exercises every year that infuriate Pyongyang, which has long demanded an end to the drills and often responds with actions of its own, ratcheting up tensions.
‘We will be stopping the war games which will save us a tremendous amount of money,’ President Trump said.
‘The war games are very expensive – we paid for a big majority of them, we fly in bombers from Guam.
‘That’s a long time for these big massive planes to be flying to South Korea to practice and then drop bombs all over the place and then go back to Guam. I know a lot about airplanes, it’s very expensive.
‘It is inappropriate to have war games. I think it’s very provocative.’
Trump said he hoped to remove US troops from South Korea at some point.
‘I want to get our soldiers out. I want to bring our soldiers back home. But that’s not part of the equation right now. I hope it will be eventually.