Donald Trump is considering a plan that would allow North Korea to keep its nuclear weapons while relieving some of its economic sanctions, according to a new report.
The former president, if he's re-elected next year, badly wants to reach an agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and would consider allowing the nation to freeze its nuclear program and stop developing new weapons in exchange for lifting some sanctions and offering other forms of aid, three sources briefed on his thinking told Politico.
“He knows he wants a deal,” one source said. “What type of deal? I don’t think he has thought that through.”
Trump's policy in his first term was “complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization," and he even considered dropping a nuclear weapon on North Korea and blaming another country, but he “fell in love" with Kim after multiple personal meetings and have remained on good terms, and his potential second term could present a dramatic shift in long-standing U.S. policy.
"If Trump softens his approach, it could rattle allies like South Korea and Japan and unnerve members of his own party who prefer a tougher approach toward Pyongyang," reported Politico. "It would also open the former president to criticisms of hypocrisy, as he consistently bashed the Obama administration for relieving Iran’s economic woes in exchange for reversing its advance toward a first nuclear weapon. Trump, as president, withdrew the U.S. from the Barack Obama-era Iran nuclear deal."
Those sources said the ex-president might be motivated to avoid lengthy negotiations to persuade Kim to dismantle his nuclear weapons and instead focus on competing with China, but Trump's campaign brusquely disputed their claims.
“These ‘sources’ have no idea what they are talking about and do not speak for President Trump or his campaign,” said campaign spokesman Steven Cheung.
