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North Korea Reaches Out to Trump for More Peace Talks

Can Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un reach an agreement that keeps the world safe from nuclear war?

By:  |  September 18, 2019  |    372 Words
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(Photo by Shealah Craighead / Official White House Photo / Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

The threat of nuclear war is too dangerous to ignore. That’s why world leaders got together in 1985 to sign a treaty to reduce nuclear weapons and increase peaceful cooperation.

This is why it is so important that President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, continue with their peace talks. North Korea is an isolated country that continues to conduct nuclear weapons tests. Throughout the years, representatives and other US officials have met with North Korea, but never has a US sitting president visited the country until Trump.

Recently, Kim Jong-un sent a letter to the president, inviting him to North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang. The letter suggested that the leaders hold their third meeting to discuss denuclearization, or the reduction of nuclear weapons. This is a good step in coming to agreeable terms.

North Korea’s Continued Missile Testing

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(Photo by Kim Jae-Hwan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Despite decades of agreements and promises, North Korea secretly worked on creating and testing nuclear missiles. After signing the the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1985, the country continued to construct test sites and perform tests. In 1994, the US and North Korea signed the Agreed Framework, in which North Korea committed to freezing its plutonium weapons program and halt construction on nuclear reactors. In response, the US pledged to provide aid and oil.

However, in the early 2000s, Pyongyang admitted to running a secret uranium program to power nuclear weapons. It revealed plans to reactivate a nuclear plant. Then, it withdrew from the NPT.

In 2005, the US Treasury Department froze $25 million held by North Korea. In 2006, nearly 30 years after first signing the denuclearization agreement, North Korea carried out its first nuclear test, conducted underground. During that same year, it also tested seven short, medium, and long-range missiles.

When Donald Trump took office, he was very hard on North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un. Despite this, when the leaders met during their first summit, the outcome seemed like a good step in the right direction. While there is a lot of tension between the two countries, the fact that Kim Jong-un reached out to Trump provides hope that denuclearization and peace could actually happen.

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