North's media say Kim vows nuclear-free Korea amid standoff

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his commitment to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula amid a growing standoff with the United States, his state-controlled media reported Thursday after a South Korean delegation met him to set up an inter-Korean summit.

The statement from the Korean Central News Agency wasn't new information — Kim has repeatedly declared similar intentions before — but allows hopes to rise that diplomacy can get back on track after the recriminations that followed Kim's meeting in June with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore. The impasse between North Korea and the United States, with neither side seemingly willing to make any substantive move, has generated widespread skepticism over Trump's claims that Kim is intent on dismantling his nuclear weapons program.

http://www.startribune.com/north-s-media-say-kim-vows-nuclear-free-korea-amid-standoff/492557341/