Trump says US aware of all North Korean nuclear work
President Donald Trump has denied that North Korea was moving ahead with its nuclear weapons program and said that the United States is aware of undeclared North Korean missile bases revealed by US researchers.
In a tweet, Trump on Tuesday called a report by a prominent Washington think tank “inaccurate”and “Fake News,” and claimed his administration “fully know(s) about the sites being discussed, nothing new - and nothing happening out of the normal.”
"I will be the first to let you know if things go bad!" Trump wrote on Twitter.
The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) claimed in the report on Monday that it had identified at least 13 of an estimated 20 undeclared missile operating bases according to new commercial satellite images.
North Korea has been involved in rigorous diplomacy with South Korea. Trump has also claimed that Washington's diplomacy with Pyongyang has eliminated a purported threat posed by North Korea to the US national security.
In their June summit in Singapore, Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to work toward denuclearization. But that agreement, made in a written document, was broadly-worded.
North Korea never said it would stop building weapons, including missiles that could or could not carry nuclear weapons.
Last week, Pyongyang called off a meeting between North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York after the United States resumed joint military drills with South Korea.
Trump last week said he expects to meet again one-on-one with Kim early next year.
Some entities in the US, however, claim that Trump’s assertion is not supported by facts. One of the authors of the CSIS report, Lisa Collins, said, “It has been pretty clear that the North has not been willing to give up its entire nuclear program.”
Follow-up diplomacy between the United States and North Korea have borne little fruit. But South Korea has significantly advanced in its diplomatic engagement of its long-time rival North Korea.
Still, the North has taken several steps toward that goal: it has suspended missile and nuclear testing, demolished at least one nuclear test site, and agreed to allow international inspectors into a missile engine test facility and another nuclear testing site.
In return, Pyongyang is seeking relief from harsh international sanctions, mostly spearheaded by the US, imposed on the country over its nuclear and missile programs. The US, however, has not offered any such relief, hence the slowdown in further diplomacy.
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