Russia Agrees to 'Help With North Korea,' Trump Says
President Donald Trump, after a rather controversial summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has now said that Russia will be helping the U.S. with its relationship with North Korea.
"Russia has agreed to help with North Korea, where relationships with us are very good and the process is moving along. There is no rush, the sanctions remain!" Trump posted on Twitter on Wednesday, July 18, as he optimistically looked forward to the end result.
"Big benefits and exciting future for North Korea at end of process!" he added.
Trump has met with North Korea's Kim Jong Un last June 12, where the result was a general agreement to continue meetings from both sides towards nuclear disarmament. Recently, the U.S. president has wavered between triumphantly announcing the end of the nuclear threat from the rogue nation, to partly admitting that the deal to disarm North Korea may not "work out" after all.
After meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki this weekend, Trump's optimism for the North Korea negotiations looks to have gotten a second wind. RIA news agency has also reported that a summit between the leaders of North Korea and Russia is "on the agenda" as well, although the topic of their meeting has not yet been revealed for now, according to Reuters.
Kremlin, meanwhile, has not issued a comment regarding Trump's latest pronouncement. So far, what concrete progress made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was more or less confined to an earlier agreement to repatriate the remains of U.S. service members from the Korean War.
According to Pompeo, "firm commitments" were made during a meeting between U.S. and North Korea officials regarding the matter during their meeting at the Demilitarized Zone. A U.S. official, while noting that the meeting was productive, also noted that there's "more work to be done," as quoted by Fox News.