{"id":13863,"date":"2018-03-06T17:23:42","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T17:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/03\/06\/north-korea-reportedly-willing-to-hold-nuclear-talk-with-us\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:38:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:38:03","slug":"north-korea-reportedly-willing-to-hold-nuclear-talk-with-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/03\/06\/north-korea-reportedly-willing-to-hold-nuclear-talk-with-us\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea reportedly willing to hold nuclear talk with US"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

EOUL, South Korea \u2014 North Korean leader Kim Jung Un has expressed a willingness to discuss nuclear disarmament with the United States and impose a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests during such talks, a senior South Korean official said Tuesday after returning from the North.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim also agreed to meet with South Korea\u2019s president at a tense border village in late April, presidential national security director Chung Eui-yong said after talks with Kim in Pyongyang<\/a>, North Korea\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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South Korea’s national security director Chung Eui-yong, right, and National Intelligence Service Chief Suh Hoon, left, talk before boarding an aircraft as they leave for Pyongyang at a military airport in Seongnam, Monday, March 5, 2018. A group of high-level South Korean officials has left for North Korea for talks on North Korea’s nuclear program and ways to help resume talks between Pyongyang and Washington. (Jung Yeon-je\/Pool Photo via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

North Korea\u2019s reported willingness to hold a \u201ccandid dialogue\u201d with the United States to discuss denuclearization and establish diplomatic relations follows a year of increased fears of war on the Korean Peninsula, with Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump exchanging fiery rhetoric and crude insults over Kim\u2019s barrage of weapons tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration also pushed through some of the harshest sanctions the already hugely sanctioned North has yet faced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump tweeted Tuesday that \u201cpossible progress\u201d was being made in the talks with North Korea, and that all sides were making serious efforts. He added: \u201cMay be false hope, but the U.S. is ready to go hard in either direction!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is still skepticism whether the developments will help establish genuine peace between the Koreas, which have a long history of failing to follow through with major rapprochement agreements. The United States has made it clear that it doesn\u2019t want empty talks with North Korea and that all options, including military measures, remain on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\t