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North Korea must scrap nukes, reiterate US, Japan

Tuesday, 29 May 2018 2:18 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 29 May 2018 2:34 AM ]

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump (3nd R) and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) and his wife Akie Abe (4th L) take part in a dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida on April 18, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

The United States and Japan have reiterated their stance towards nuclear weapons in possession of North Korea asserting that they should be scrapped.

President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo agreed in a phone conversation on Monday that it is "imperative" to completely dismantle North Korea's nukes.

The two "discussed recent developments in North Korea and confirmed they would meet again to continue close coordination in advance of the expected meeting between the United States and North Korea," a White House statement read. "The president and prime minister affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs."

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Trump announced recently that he was canceling the scheduled summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un but changed his mind after a more pleasing statement from Pyongyang.

Trump and Abe are set to hold a meeting before the planned summit.

“We agreed to meet before the U.S.-North Korea summit,” the Japanese premier told reporters in the capital Tokyo following his telephone call with Trump.

The two are expected to take part in the Group of Seven economic summit June 8-9 in Canada, yet the meeting could take place earlier than that in the White House.

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The call came a day after officials from the US and North met at a border truce village to prepare for a summit slated to take place on June 12.

Sung Kim, the US ambassador to the Philippines and former envoy to South Korea, is leading a US delegation at the preparation talks.

Some Trump administration officials, including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin, took a flight Sunday to Singapore, where the set is supposed to be held.

“They traveled to Singapore to focus on logistics preparations,” a White House official confirmed to US media.

Washington wants "complete, verifiable and irreversible" dismantling of the nuclear arsenal in North Korea, a suggestion rebuffed by Pyongyang.

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