Verification a critical factor in North Korea denuclearisation programme

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to dismantle his nuclear test site, and supposedly, he’s even inviting the international press into his usually off-limits kingdom to witness the extravaganza. The gesture is meant to prove he’s serious about eliminating his weapons program – and he wants all the world to see it.

But be warned: This could be a show of the dog-and-pony variety. Some experts claim the site has already been pulverized by previous tests and is now of little use. If that’s the case, Kim’s move, at best, may be merely symbolic; at worst, it could be a ruse, meant to convince a hopeful world that he’s ditching his nukes when he’s not. How can we know what the truth really is?

And here we find the one factor that may kill off any nuclear deal with North Korea: verification.

The U.S. and South Korea will need to be assured the North Koreans are doing what they say they’re doing. Any agreement will have to include some sort of process to inspect Pyongyang’s nuclear facilities and verify that every aspect of Kim’s weapons-making program has been eliminated.

Moon Jae-in 'very generous' for suggesting my name for Nobel Prize: Trump

United States President Donald Trump, who is apparently in high spirits amid all the Nobel Peace Prize chatter, has said that South Korean President Moon Jae-in was "very generous" to suggest that the former should be bestowed with the prestigious award over his efforts to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

"I just think that President Moon [Jae-in] was very nice when he suggested it. I want to get peace. The main thing, we want to get peace. It was a big problem, and I think it's going to work out well," the Hill reported, Trump as saying, on Tuesday, when asked about his Nobel prospects.

"We'll see. . But I thought it was very generous of President Moon of South Korea to make that statement, and I appreciate it, but the main thing is to get it done. I want to get it done."

The remarks came a day after South Korean President Moon Jae-in lauded the U.S. leader for leading multilateral discussions with North Korea.

"President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize," Moon had remarked.

It is highly likely that Trump could have been nominated for this year's peace prize, which former President Obama won in 2009, according to the report.

After trading barbs, Trump open to talks with North Korea's Kim Jong-un

President Donald Trump, shelving comparisons about the size of a "nuclear button", said he is open to talking with the North Korean leader he's called "Little Rocket Man" and hopes some progress results from upcoming talks between the Koreas.

Trump, who last year lambasted his chief diplomat for talking about negotiations with the nuclear-armed North, told reporters at Camp David that some dialogue or direct conversation with Kim Jong Un was not beyond the realm of possibility.

"Sure, I always believe in talking," Trump said. "Absolutely, I would do that, I wouldn't have a problem with that at all." But he was quick to add that any talks would come with conditions, which he did not specify.

The first formal talks between North and South in more than two years are set to take place in a border town Tuesday as the rivals try to find ways to cooperate on the Winter Olympics in the South and to improve their ties. Tensions are high because of the North's nuclear and missile programs.

"Right now they're talking Olympics. It's a start, it's a big start," Trump said during a question-and-answer session after meetings with GOP leaders in Congress and Cabinet members on the administration's 2018 legislative agenda.
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