Under Donald Trump, Washington expected to discuss ‘small deal' on Pyongyang's nuclear program, says South Korean spy agency
Incoming US President Donald Trump could seek fresh dialogue with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un after the former's inauguration on Jan. 20, the South Korean spy agency said on Monday.
Trump, who met with Kim three times during his first presidency, is expected to discuss a "small deal" on the Pyongyang's nuclear program, the Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.
"If US believes it is difficult to expect North Korea's complete denuclearization in a short period of time, a 'small deal' -- small-scaled negotiations for freezing the North's nuclear programs or nuclear disarmament -- may be possible," the spy agency told lawmakers.
Kim and Trump held two summits and met three times in Singapore, Vietnam, and at the Demilitarized Zone, which divides the Korean Peninsula, during the Republican winner's first term. The denuclearization talks were stalled after the 2019 Hanoi summit.
Over the past four years after Trump was ousted in the 2020 presidential elections, North Korea has closed its ranks with Russia with which it signed a military pact in June last year, requiring Moscow and Pyongyang to extend military aid in case of an attack by a third party.
The US, on the other side, under the outgoing Biden administration closed ranks with South Korea and Japan -- forming a trilateral alliance against Pyongyang, including initiating the first joint military drills on the Korean Peninsula.
More than two weeks after Trump won the Nov. 5 presidential polls, the North Korean leader Kim recalled his negotiations with the US, in an apparent first reaction to the Republican winner.
“We have already gone to every length in negotiations with the US, and what was certain from the outcome was ... the unchanging invasive and hostile policy toward North Korea,” Kim said in mid-December.
During his visit to Seoul last week, outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that the Biden administration had made “multiple efforts to engage DPRK (North Korea), without conditions at many occasions.”
“The only response we got is more and more provocative responses, including missile launches,” he said, using initials of North Korea's official name.
