US Vows to Keep Sanctions on North Korea as Trump Prepares to Meet Kim

“We have been clear on sanctions. These are the world’s sanctions and that is something... that will be continued to be maintained until we’ve achieved our final result of fully, finally verified denuclearization,” State Department Spokesman Robert Palladino told reporters on Tuesday, World News reported.

Despite the much-touted upcoming talks, it seems like sanctions will stay in place indefinitely, as The American leader himself confessed to being in “no rush” to reach any compromise.

“There’s no testing. As long as there is no testing, I’m in no rush. If there’s testing, that’s another deal,” he said in the Oval Office on Tuesday, adding, “I’d just like to see ultimately denuclearization of North Korea.”

The US president repeatedly praised himself for singlehandedly ‘averting’ a war with Pyongyang, all thanks to his so-called maximum pressure policy of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation, mixed with extremely belligerent rhetoric and threats towards North Korea.

After their first face-to-face meeting in Singapore last June, which took place after a historic inter-Korean summit and Kim’s talks with Xi Jinping in China, the US and North Korean leaders agreed to work towards the denuclearization of the peninsula in exchange for sanctions relief and security guarantees.

While Pyongyang has since stopped testing ballistic missiles or nuclear bombs, the Americans continue to insist the country's nuclear program must be fully dismantled before they deliver on their part of the deal.

“I think next week’s going to be very exciting,” Trump stated, without elaborating, noting that “I think a lot of things will come out of it”.

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