Kim Jong-un vows to DESTROY nuclear weapons claims SOUTH Korea

Kim and Donald Trump pledged to work towards denuclearisation at their landmark June summit in Singapore but the agreement was short on specifics and negotiations have made little headway since with North Korea refusing to declare its nuclear weapons and facilities or agree to a concrete timeline.

Mr Moon, the son of North Korean refugees, said there could be more diplomatic “bumps and bruises” as he tries to persuade Kim to give up his nuclear weapons.

But he described Kim as “candid” and insisted he had resolved to abandon his nuclear and missile programmes and focus on his country’s economy as long as regime security was guaranteed.

He said: “By complete denuclearisation, he meant to start by stopping additional nuclear and missile tests, and then abolish the facilities that produce the nukes and develop the missiles, and all the existing nuclear weapons and materials.”

Mr Moon, who attended a third summit in Pyongyang last month, said North Korea was ready to invite international experts to watch the dismantling of a key missile site and would close the main Yongbyon nuclear complex if Washington took reciprocal actions.

He said the actions could include putting a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, opening of a US liaison office in North Korea, humanitarian aid and an exchange of economic experts.

Mr Moon said a gradual easing of economic sanctions against Pyongyang should be “seriously considered” when substantial progress on denuclearisation has been made but Washington has insisted on “irreversible steps” being made before such a move takes place.

The South Korean president said: “Ending the war is a sort of a political declaration to terminate the longstanding hostile relationship between the United States and North Korea, and it would kick off peace negotiations depending on the denuclearisation process.

“There is consensus between South Korea and the United States that it is desirable to make the end-of-war declaration at an earliest possible date, so I think it’s a matter of time but it will definitely happen.”

His comments come amid US concerns inter-Korean relations may be warming too fast in relation to negotiations to dismantle North Korea’s weapons programmes.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has expressed “discontent” with an inter-Korean military pact reached during last month’s summit in a rare sign of disagreement between the allies.

But he said: “While there’s still a long way to go and much work to do, we can now see a path where we will achieve [our] ultimate goal, which is the full and final verified denuclearisation of North Korea.”

Mr Trump said his second summit with Kim would be held after next months mid-term elections but it remains unclear what steps the US plans to take towards denuclearisation.