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| US President Donald J. Trump during the signing of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, Nov. 16. EPA-Yonhap |
The United States expressed confidence Friday that North Korea will honor its commitment to denuclearize despite its test of an unspecified "newly developed high-tech tactical weapon."
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected the "successful" test of the weapon at a national defense institute, state media reported earlier in the day.
This marked the first such inspection by Kim since he watched an intercontinental ballistic missile launch in November 2017.
"At the Singapore Summit, President Trump and Chairman Kim made a number of commitments regarding final, fully verified denuclearization and creating a brighter future for North Korea," a State Department spokesman said in response to a query from Yonhap News. "We are talking with the North Koreans about implementing all of those commitments."
The summit in June yielded a commitment by Kim to work toward "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from the U.S.
Follow-up negotiations have stalled, as the North has demanded sanctions relief while the U.S. has refused to offer major concessions before full and verified denuclearization.
"The president has made it clear that if Kim Jong-un denuclearizes, there is a bright future for North Korea," the spokesman added. "We remain confident that the promises made by President Trump and Chairman Kim will be fulfilled."
Trump has said he expects to have a second meeting with Kim early next year.
Meanwhile, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, revealed earlier this week that it had identified 13 of 20 undeclared North Korean missile bases that appeared to be operational. (Yonhap)
