Trump calls for IAEA efforts to fully denuclearize N. Korea

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump called for international efforts to fully and verifiably denuclearize North Korea on Monday amid stalled nuclear talks with the communist nation.

"We must ensure that Iran adheres to the commitments ... to prevent it from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon, and continue to work toward the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea," Trump said in a message to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference in Vienna, Austria.

The message was delivered by US representative Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette.

Brouillette said the US is ready to resume negotiations with the North.

"The United States remains ready to make progress toward the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea, and we urge North Korea to join us in negotiations toward this objective -- thereby ensuring a brighter future for the North Korean people," he said, according to a transcript of his remarks posted on the IAEA website.

Trump has held three meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, including the first-ever US-North Korea summit in June

2018 and second-ever in February 2019. Their talks, however, have stalled since June 2019, when they last met inside the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas. (Yonhap)