Trump says "it's possible" North Korea nuclear agreement could collapse
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly is preparing for his third trip to North Korea later this week to discuss a proposed timeline for full denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. He meets with President Trump today.
Washington and Pyongyang have yet to negotiate a plan for how North Korea will denuclearize. And as for a timeframe, while National Security Adviser John Bolton says it will happen within a year, Pompeo says that timeline is closer to two-and-a-half years, reports CBS News correspondent Paula Reid.
President Donald Trump told Fox News Sunday he trusted Kim Jong Un would dismantle his nuclear program ("I made a deal with him"), but admitted the deal they agreed to in Singapore last month could fall apart.
"Have I been in deals, have you been in things where, people didn't work out? It's possible," he said.
That's far from Mr. Trump's confident tone arriving home from the summit, when he tweeted, "There is no longer a nuclear threat."
- Trump says he "trusts" Kim Jong Un after summit ("CBS This Morning")
But new satellite imagery shows an expansion of a missile-manufacturing site capable of producing missiles that could hit U.S. military installations in Asia.
- What does "denuclearization" mean for North Korea? (CBS News)
- Pompeo berates reporter for question about verifying North Korea denuclearization (CBS News)
The North Koreans were finishing construction of the plant around the same time President Trump was meeting Kim in Singapore.
"It goes to show the intentions and expectations that the North Koreans had going into the meeting," said David Schmerler, a researcher at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. "It shows that they are fully committed to maintaining their ballistic missile program."
This comes on top of a Washington Post report that U.S. intelligence believes the North Koreans are planning to conceal the number of warheads in their arsenal.
- Satellite Imagery: Infrastructure Improvements at N.K.'s Yongbyon Nuclear Research Facility (38 North)
- What would it take to get rid of North Korea's nuclear weapons? ("CBS Evening News")
On Sunday's "Face the Nation," Bolton would not address the Washington Post article, arguing the administration had a plan to fully dismantle their nuclear program.
"I don't want to comment on that specific report," Bolton said. "We have developed a program. I'm sure that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be discussing this with the North Koreans in the near future about really how to dismantle all of their WMD and ballistic missile programs in a year."
- Bolton says U.S. could dismantle North Korean arsenal "within a year" ("Face the Nation")
Behind the scenes, the diplomacy continues. Over the weekend, a U.S. envoy met with the North Koreans at the DMZ.
Bolton also said the administration's plan would require the North Koreans to provide full disclosure of all their nuclear programs and ballistic missile sites, but that has not happened yet.
