The White House says President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed Tuesday that sanctions against North Korea should remain in place "until it permanently dismantles its nuclear and missile programs."
The two leaders spoke by telephone Tuesday morning just hours after a two-day meeting between Xi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, their second meeting in recent weeks. Chinese state media said Xi and Kim met in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian. Kim visited Beijing in March on his first trip abroad as leader of North Korea, an indication China was still engaged in the denuclearization process on the Korean peninsula.
Trump also reminded Xi of his commitment to a "balanced" trade and investment relationship between the two countries that "benefits American businesses and workers," according to the White House.
Chinese state media reported that Xi told Trump the two countries should find a way to resolve trade disputes. Beijing and Washington are attempting to avert a trade war, even as they have escalated tensions in recent weeks with threats of tariffs on of billions of dollars of each other's products.
The White House announced on Monday that China's top economic adviser will visit Washington next week to continue trade talks with Trump's economic team.
Xi also told Trump he is supportive of a planned summit between Trump and Kim, and Xi expressed hope the U.S. would consider Pyongyang's security concerns, Chinese state media said. Trump and Kim are expected to meet later this month or in early June.
Trump told reporters at the White House Tuesday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was enroute to North Korea for meetings that have been scheduled.
"We think relationships are building with North Korea," Trump said. "We’ll see how it all works out. Maybe it will. Maybe it won’t."
When asked if three U.S. nationals currently detained in North Korea would be released, as has been speculated in recent days, Trump responded, "It will be a great thing if they are, but we’ll soon be finding out."
Mixed messages on US troop withdrawal
Amid preparations for the Trump-Kim summit, South Korean officials have been rattled by reports the U.S. president is considering withdrawing American forces from the peninsula if his talks with Kim go well.
Trump told reporters Friday that "at some point into the future, I would like to save the money" spent on keeping the U.S. military in South Korea, but the president emphasized that "troops are not on the table" for his talks with Kim.
Earlier Friday, National Security Adviser John Bolton, responding to a New York Times report, termed it "utter nonsense.” “The president has not asked the Pentagon to provide options for reducing American forces stationed in South Korea," he added.
The Defense Department also said in a statement the newspaper's story was false.
Trump has stated the United States will continue to apply maximum pressure on Pyongyang until the country denuclearizes, which he has defined as "I want them to get rid of their nukes."
Formal peace treaty?
South Korean officials say Kim told them he would abandon his nuclear weapons if the United States officially ended the Korean War.
The North and the United States were among the signatories to a cessation of hostilities in 1953, known as an armistice.
Many analysts are skeptical Kim will agree to abandon his nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles merely in exchange for a peace treaty.
"A common definition of denuclearization" would be helpful before a meeting, said Tara O, an adjunct fellow at the Pacific Forum and author of The Collapse of North Korea. "Otherwise, there would be surprises," she said.
O, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, told VOA News that Kim and his generals view denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as including a withdrawal of U.S. troops and an end to the U.S.-South Korean alliance in order to remove the American nuclear umbrella and the joint military capability from the peninsula.
VOA State Department Correspondent Nike Ching contributed to this report.
