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North Korea won’t give up all its nukes: Ex-US defense chief

Monday, 13 May 2019 12:08 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 13 May 2019 12:08 AM ]

This May 9, 2019 picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 10, 2019 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending the strike drill of defence units of the Korean People's Army (KPA) in the forefront area and on the western front of North Korea. (AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS)

North Korea will not accept the US demand to give up all its nuclear weapons, says the United States former Defense chief.

Robert Gates made the comments in an interview with CBS that taped on May 10, Politico reported Sunday amid a standoff between Washington and Pyongyang over nuclear negotiations.

“I believe that North Koreans will never completely denuclearize,” said the former Pentagon chief, adding that the Trump administration is “unrealistic in believing that they can get complete denuclearization.”

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Gates further asserted that Trump did the right thing to walk away from the Hnoi summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in February.

After 25 years of failure to negotiate with North Korea, Trump’s outreach “I thought it was a bold stroke,” Gates said. “The outreach was a bold thing to do.”

According to a report in The Washington Post, Trump and Kim battled with their own advisers as they negotiated denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

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Ties between the two world leaders have become sourer recently.

“He sends him pictures. He sends him letters. I don’t know how President Trump can be more forthcoming in his efforts to have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un,” US national security adviser John Bolton told "PBS NewsHour" Friday.

The US president sounded optimistic on Twitter even after the Hanoi summit collapsed with no tangible results.

“We had very substantive negotiations with Kim Jong Un - we know what they want and they know what we must have. Relationship very good, let’s see what happens!” Trump tweeted in March after leaving a nuclear summit with Kim in Vietnam.

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