Trump Admits 'Possible' North Korea Nuclear Deal May Not 'Work Out' After All
President Donald Trump has acknowledged on Sunday, July 1, that the "possible" nuclear deal that he has been working out with North Korea during the historic Singapore summit last month might end up not working out after all. North Korea has reportedly ramped up the production of enriched uranium in secret, contrary to their leader Kim Jong-Un's recent statements on denuclearization.
Trump was a guest during an interview with Fox News when the subject of Pyongyang's newly escalated nuclear program came up.
"I made a deal with him, I shook hands with him, I really believe he means it. Now, is it possible?" Trump asked. "Have I been in deals, have you been in things where people didn't work out? It's possible," he allowed, as quoted by the Asia Times.
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It was a different tone from the time the president confidently announced that North Korea was "no longer a nuclear threat," as he pronounced just a bit over two weeks ago after getting back in the U.S. from the historic Singapore meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un back in June 13.
"Just landed - a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea," Trump wrote on social media back then.
Meanwhile, Trump's national security adviser John Bolton has doubled down on their assessment that North Korea's nuclear program could still be ramped down and dismantled within a year, according to the Guardian. He said that they have developed a program that can be used to supervise North Korea's disposal of their ballistic missile programs and weapons of mass destruction within 12 months.
Bolton also pointed out that "it's to North Korea's advantage to see these programs dismantled very quickly because then the elimination of sanctions aid by South Korea and Japan and others can all begin to flow," as he noted to the media present at the time.
