By Agencies
As the Hanoi summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un fell to pieces in February, Trump reportedly demanded that Kim transfer all of his nuclear weapons and bomb fuel to the US!
Reuters now report that it has viewed the note detailing Trump’s demands that was given to Kim February 28 at Hanoi’s Metropole Hotel. The note marked the first time that Trump specifically outlined his vision of a de-nuclearized Korean Peninsula and was written in both Korean and in English, the outlet said, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.
The document called for “fully dismantling North Korea’s nuclear infrastructure, chemical and biological warfare program and related dual-use capabilities; and ballistic missiles, launchers, and associated facilities.”
Other key demands called for Pyongyang to provide a comprehensive declaration of its nuclear program, give US officials and international inspectors full access to its facilities, halt all construction of any new centers and transition all nuclear program scientists and technicians to commercial activities.
Although details of the notice were never made public, the document was referenced by National Security Adviser John Bolton following the summit. In fact, the idea of North Korea handing over its weapons was first mentioned by Bolton in 2004.
A source informed Reuters that the document was meant to explain to North Korean officials exactly what Washington meant by “final, fully verifiable, de-nuclearization.”
It should be noted that demands for North Korea to hand over “related dual-use” technologies could have a profound effect on medical and technical research in the country. As Sputnik previously reported, sanctions already placed on Pyongyang have prevented some medical items from being imported into the country.
“When you study infectious diseases, which are a big burden in North Korea, you have to grow bacteria,” Harvard Medical School neurosurgeon Kee Park, director of DPRK Programs for the Korean American Medical Association, previously told NPR at the time. “That’s the kind of technology that goes into creating biological weapons.”
The much-anticipated second meeting between Trump and Kim came to an sudden and abrupt end earlier this year without an agreement after the US refused to offer North Korea any relief from economic sanctions. Trump at the time told reporters that Pyongyang “wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety” and that “we couldn’t do that.”
The two world leaders held their first-ever meeting in June 2018 in Singapore. That summit ended with a four-point declaration that paved the way toward renewed bilateral relations between the two countries and initiated de-nuclearization talks, among other goals. (https://www.mabelwadsworth.org)
