Let's start with those comments by U.S. President Donald Trump's top national security adviser.
John Bolton has been speaking to Fox News,.. telling them that North Korea HAS TO start taking concrete steps on denuclearization.
He also mentioned that President Trump is prepared to send Secretary of State Mike Pompeo back to Pyongyang to keep the dialogue between the two sides going at the highest level.
Lee Seung-jae reports.
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton says President Trump has offered to send Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Pyongyang once again,... to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un,... and continue the ongoing negotiations on dismantling the regime's nuclear weapons program.
In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday,... Bolton revealed Trump made the proposal in his most recent letter to Kim,... which was delivered to North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho during last week's ASEAN forum in Singapore.
Asked about the possibility for a second summit between Kim and Trump,... Bolton said there aren't any plans yet,... but President Trump is "prepared to meet at any point".
He added that what's really needed isn't more rhetoric,... but "performance from North Korea on denuclearization."
Bolton dismissed North Korea's calls for an easing of sanctions,... saying the Trump administration will continue to enforce them,... until Pyongyang denuclearizes.
Bolton says the U.S. has lived up to its side of the Singapore Declaration,... but North Korea,... he feels,... has not taken the steps needed to denuclearize.
Bolton also downplayed the significance of North Korea returning 55 boxes of remains of presumed American soldiers killed during the Korean War,... saying it's just one part of the agreement the two sides reached in Singapore.
He went on to say the North should return the remains of all foreign soldiers without having to be asked... since there's no point withholding remains from a conflict that ended several decades ago.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.