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Trump Expects North Korea To Keep Its Word On Missile Testing

KCNA/via REUTERS

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Ryan Pickrell China/Asia Pacific Reporter
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North Korea has said that it will not test nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles while talks are ongoing, and President Donald Trump expects the rogue regime to “honor that commitment.”

“The North expressed its willingness to hold a heartfelt dialogue with the U.S. on the issues of denuclearization and normalizing relations with the United States. It made it clear that while dialogue is continuing, it will not attempt any strategic provocations, such as nuclear and ballistic missile tests,” the South Korean presidential office said Tuesday.

Two days later, South Korean diplomats visited Washington to brief the president and his team on their recent trip to Pyongyang, as well as deliver a message from the North Korean leader. North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has invited Trump to meet with him, and the president has agreed to do so. Trump may soon become the first sitting American president to meet a North Korean leader.

WATCH: South Korean Official Announces That Trump Agrees To Meet Kim Jong Un

In a series of tweets, Trump has signaled his eagerness to meet with Kim.

The last missile test was in November. Just two months after North Korea detonated a staged thermonuclear bomb with an explosive yield much larger than anything the regime has previously tested, the North tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile known as the Hwasong-15, a weapon analysts believe can range most, if not all, of the U.S. mainland.

The North has apparently promised not to test any of its weapons during talks. However, there is the strong possibility that North Korea will continue to produce them in order to meet Kim’s demands.

“The nuclear weapons research sector and the rocket industry should mass-produce nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles, the power and reliability of which have already been proved to the full, to give a spur to the efforts for deploying them for action,” Kim said in his New Year’s address.

North Korea is supposedly open to discussing denuclearization, but it seems unlikely that the rogue regime would willingly abandon the weapons it has spent several decades building. North Korea’s intentions remain unclear, increasing the need for the president to approach talks with a level head.

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