President Trump on Sunday rebuked NBC News’ Chuck Todd for criticizing the president’s plans for face-to-face talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
Mr. Trump said his foreign policy on North Korea was already paying off.
“Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd of Fake News NBC just stated that we have given up so much in our negotiations with North Korea, and they have given up nothing,” tweeted the president. “Wow, we haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearization (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!
In another tweet, Mr. Trump cautioned that the talks on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula remained in the early stages.
“We are a long way from conclusion on North Korea, maybe things will work out, and maybe they won’t - only time will tell….But the work I am doing now should have been done a long time ago!” he said.
Mr. Kim last week said that he will suspend all missile tests and shut down a nuclear test site for the historic talks with Mr. Trump. The nuclear shutdown began Saturday, according to North Korean state-run news.
The talks are being arranged for May or June.
Mr. Trump appeared to be responding to remarks Sunday on “Meet the Press,” which is hosted by Mr. Todd.
Mr. Todd said that Mr. Kim “seems to be giving very little but making it seem like he’s giving a lot.”
Mr. Kim has said that he doesn’t need more testing because North Korea already is able to put a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.
“There’s not many pre-conditions the United States is asking for. So far in this potential summit, North Koreans have gotten a lot out of it,” said Mr. Todd. “What has the United States gotten yet? We don’t have a release of any of those Americans that they held captive, we don’t have a pledge of denuclearization as the ultimate goal. There’s a lot of things they are not promising that is raising some red flags.”
On Saturday, Mr. Trump hailed North Korea’s suspension of nuclear tests as “progress” in his bid to force the Hermit Kingdom to give up its nuclear weapons program.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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