Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed as "fake news" a media report that he is considering a negotiation plan under which North Korea freezes its nuclear program and stops building new weapons in return for sanctions relief and other incentives.
Citing three people briefed on his thinking, Politico, a US media outlet, reported that Trump is weighing the idea as he is seeking a second White House term in next year's election expected to be a rematch between him and incumbent President Joe Biden.
The outlet noted that the plan would mark a "sharp" departure from his past stance in pursuit of the North's denuclearization and a shift toward "accommodating" North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, with whom Trump developed an "unusually friendly" relationship.
"A fake news article in Politico through anonymous sources (as usual!) states that my views on nuclear weapons in North Korea have softened," Trump wrote in a social media post.
He went on to call the article a "made up story, disinformation, put out by Democrat operatives in order to mislead and confuse."
"The only thing accurate in the story is that I do get along well with Kim Jong-un!" he said.
In its article, Politico cited the sources as saying Trump is weighing the idea that would "involve enticing North Korea to freeze its nuclear program and stop developing new weapons, in exchange for relief from economic sanctions and some other form of aid."
Politico raised the possibility that Trump could seek the North's denuclearization as a long-term goal.
Part of Trump's motivation for the idea would be to focus on the "larger task of competing with China" while avoiding "wasting time on what he sees as futile arms talks," the outlet said.
The idea, if pushed for, could cause friction with Seoul as South Korea has long been pursuing North Korea's complete denuclearization while seeking a credible nuclear deterrent provided by the United States.
Talk of a nuclear freeze surfaced in the past as part of a potential interim deal aimed at achieving North Korea's complete denuclearization. But a deal that does not specify the end goal of denuclearization could unnerve Seoul and Tokyo.
With a long-running impasse in denuclearization efforts, calls have emerged for a new approach to persuade the North to renounce its nuclear ambitions -- particularly when Pyongyang has enshrined its nuclear armament in its constitution and adopted an aggressive nuclear policy.
During his presidential term from 2017-2021, Trump sought leader-to-leader diplomacy with the North, which led to three face-to-face meetings between him and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)
