Trump ‘will walk out’ if North Korea talks not fruitful

US President Donald Trump says that if his planned talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are not fruitful he will “walk out”.

At a joint news conference, he and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe said maximum pressure must be maintained on North Korea over nuclear disarmament.

Mr Abe is at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for talks.

Earlier, Mr Trump confirmed that CIA Director Mike Pompeo had made a secret trip to North Korea to meet Mr Kim.

He said Mr Pompeo had forged a “good relationship” with Mr Kim - whom the US president was last year calling "little rocket man" - and that the meeting had gone “very smoothly”.

The visit marked the highest-level contact between the US and North Korea since 2000.

What was said about the summit?

President Trump said at the joint news conference that if he did not think the meeting would be successful he would not go, and if the meeting went ahead but was not productive, he would walk out.

“Our campaign of maximum pressure will continue until North Korea denuclearises,” he added.

“As I’ve said before, there is a bright path available to North Korea when it achieves denuclearisation in a complete and verifiable and irreversible way. It would be a great day for them, it would be a great day for the world.”

What else was discussed?

On trade, the leaders agreed to start talks on “free, fair and and reciprocal trade deals”.

Mr Trump said the US remained opposed to rejoining the Trans Pacific Partnership unless Japan and other parties to the trade pact offered “a deal that I can’t refuse”.

What is the TPP and why does it matter?

The US president did not exempt Japan from punitive steel and aluminium tariffs, as he has done for other US allies.

Turning to North Korea, Mr Abe said he had urged President Trump to help bring about the release of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.

North Korea has admitted to abducting 13 Japanese citizens in order to use them to train its spies in Japanese customs. Japan believes the figure is much higher. The issue has soured relations between the two countries for decades.

Three US citizens are also being held in North Korea.

Mr Trump said the US would "work very hard" to try to bring the Japanese abductees home.

"We are likewise fighting very diligently to get the three American citizens back," Mr Trump added.

"I think there's a good chance of doing it. We're having very good dialogue."

Source: BBC