Trump-Kim summit statement will please Chinese although concerns remain

In return for denuclearisation, the US in the joint statement promised to provide security guarantees to North Korea. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
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BEIJING - The joint statement signed by the United States and North Korea, in which Pyongyang agrees to work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, is an outcome that would be welcomed by China although there may be concerns that there is no stipulation that this will be verifiable and irreversible.

However, US President Donald Trump's comments at his press conference that the US and South Korea would be stopping military exercises and that he might in time pull out the 32,000 American troops stationed in South Korea would please the Chinese as this is in their security interests.

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