Mattis forecasts a 'bumpy road' for Trump's North Korea summit

"We can anticipate, at best, a bumpy road" to President Trump's June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Defense Secretary James Mattis said Sunday. While Trump is at present positive about the meeting, he could conceivably cancel it again.

Mattis also sought to temper expectations for the summit's results, describing a slow and deliberate process of change. "We will continue to implement all U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea," he said. "North Korea will receive [sanctions] relief only when it demonstrates verifiable and irreversible steps to denuclearization."

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to halt nuclear and missile tests, and the South Korean government reports he privately has indicated a willingness to denuclearize his nation in exchange for a formal end to the Korean War and a promise that the United States will not invade.

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