Trump’s willingness to abide by peace agreement with North Korea unclear: Analyst

The government of North Korea is determined to establishing peaceful relations with the United States and denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, but President Donald Trump’s willingness to abide by any agreement is unclear, says an American political analyst in Virginia.

“The regime of [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un is serious about wanting to make some sort of international peace with the United States for a variety of reasons,” said Keith Preston, chief editor of AttacktheSystem.com.

“The evidence is that they are indeed sincere about wanting to pursue some sort of agreement with the United States; the question how much the United States going to be willing to give,” Preston told Press TV on Thursday.

Trump said Tuesday Washington was stopping “very provocative” and “very expensive” military exercises with South Korea to facilitate denuclearization negotiations with North Korea.

The United States and South Korea hold regular military drills to the fury of North Korea, which has long seen the drills as preparations to invade it.

“The war games are very expensive, we pay for the majority of them,” Trump told a news conference on in Singapore after a historic summit with Kim.

Trump’s announcement was a surprise even to the government of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, which worked in recent months to help bring about the Trump-Kim summit.

“We will be stopping the war games which will save us a tremendous amount of money, unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should. But we’ll be saving a tremendous amount of money, plus I think it’s very provocative,” Trump said.

Pentagon officials were not immediately able to provide any details about Trump’s remarks about suspending military drills, a step the US military has long resisted.

Trump and Kim promised in a joint statement to work toward the “denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula, and the United States promised its Cold War foe security guarantees.

Trump and Kim arrived in Singapore on Sunday to hold the first ever face-to-face meeting between leaders of the two countries, which have remained enemies since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

While the summit is seen as a test for diplomacy that could end the long-running nuclear standoff, foreign policy experts say the stakes are high if it does not result in a nuclear agreement.