Trump Insider: "If for North Korea Negotiations... Worth Considering Suspension of ROK-US Military Drills"

Fred Fleitz, Deputy Director of the America First Policy Institute
Reveals in RFA interview... States it as a personal opinion
Trump makes bombshell remark of "nuclear-armed state" in official setting

Fred Fleitz, Deputy Director of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) and a close aide to U.S. President Donald Trump, reportedly stated that it is worth considering a temporary suspension of the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises to resume negotiations with North Korea, according to a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA) on the 24th.

In an interview with RFA that day, Fleitz, speaking as a personal opinion, said, "I still believe these (South Korea-U.S. joint) exercises are important, but if there is a possibility of good-faith negotiations with North Korea, temporarily suspending the exercises during the negotiation process would not be harmful." President Trump decided to reduce or cancel the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises, which North Korea strongly opposed, following the 2018 Singapore North Korea-U.S. summit, and such a gesture of reconciliation could be repeated in the second phase of North Korea-U.S. talks.

Fleitz’s remarks came amid speculation that North Korea-U.S. summit diplomacy could be pursued more swiftly than expected, after President Trump responded "I will" to the question "Will you try to contact Kim Jong-un again?" in a Fox News interview aired on the 23rd (local time). Fleitz also predicted that the issue of North Korean troops being dispatched to Russia could become a major point of negotiation in the North Korea-U.S. talks.

Regarding recent mentions by President Trump and Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth referring to North Korea as a Nuclear Power, some have speculated that this signals a shift from denuclearization to nuclear arms reduction negotiations, but Fleitz drew a clear line on this. He stated, "The U.S. still adheres to the CVID (Complete, Verifiable, and Irreversible Denuclearization) policy," and pointed out, "North Korea is not a nuclear-armed state as defined by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)."

Meanwhile, the term "nuclear-armed state" mentioned by President Trump generally refers to countries such as Israel, India, and Pakistan, which have been recognized as nuclear-armed outside the NPT framework. It is unusual for President Trump to explicitly refer to North Korea as a nuclear-armed state. Previous U.S. administrations have refrained from using the term "nuclear-armed state" because it could imply acceptance of North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons.

The U.S. North Korea-focused media outlet NK News noted, "Trump’s remarks appear to be more of an impromptu statement rather than an official policy declaration," but also pointed out, "This represents a departure from Washington’s previous stance of not recognizing North Korea as a nuclear-armed state despite its possession of nuclear weapons."