The White House has reported that sanctions currently on North Korea from the US will remain in place, despite a confusing Tweet from President Trump over the weekend, stating that he wants to stop using the “maximum force” descriptor, because the two parties are agreeing with each other. All reporting by Reuters.
Key quotes
“After meeting a senior official from Pyongyang at the White House on Friday, Trump said North Korea was being more cooperative and that although sanctions would remain in place, he would hold off on imposing new ones. Asked at a news briefing on Monday whether the “maximum pressure” campaign would continue, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters: “We have sanctions on, they are very powerful and we would not take those sanctions off unless North Korea denuclearized.” The Trump administration has credited its “maximum pressure” campaign, supported by the United Nations and major world powers, for helping bring North Korea to the table to negotiate giving up its nuclear weapons.
Trump said on Friday the summit he had canceled the previous week was back on after he received the North Korean delegation bearing a letter from Kim.
Top Senate Democrats on Monday told Trump not to make a deal that leaves North Korea with nuclear weapons, and threatened to maintain or toughen sanctions on Pyongyang if that condition is not met.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and ranking Democrats from national security committees released a letter to Trump laying out demands for any pact, which they said must be permanent.
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