NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/SUMMIT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/VIETNAM: “A week before another high-profile summit with Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump said Tuesday [2-19-19] he’s in ‘no rush’ to have North Korea denuclearize – as long it continues to hold off on testing of nuclear weapons and missiles…Trump flies next week to Hanoi, Vietnam, for two days of meetings with Kim, a sequel of sorts to their first meeting last year in Singapore. In further preparation, Trump said he plans to speak Wednesday with another key player in the region, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In the South Korean call, Moon told Trump he hopes the summit ‘will provide a ‘critical turning point’ to accomplish complete de-nuclearization, a peace regime on the peninsula and development of NK-US relations,’ according to a statement from Moon’s office. Kim pledged at the Singapore meeting to eliminate his country’s nuclear weapons programs, but some U.S. officials said North Korea has yet to take concrete, verifiable steps to that end. The U.S. is looking for firmer commitments at the Vietnam summit.”
–David Jackson, “President Trump ‘in no rush’ to have North Korea denuclearize – as long as it doesn’t test weapons,” USA Today, February 19, 2019 4:10 pm