WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. and China agree North Korea cannot just freeze its nuclear weapons program in exchange for concessions and that it must eliminate its arsenal.
Trump was restating a long-standing U.S. position but suggested China now concurred with Washington a "freeze-for-freeze" agreement was unacceptable.
China and Russia have proposed as a way to restart long-stalled negotiations: the North could freeze its nuclear and missile programs in exchange for the U.S. and its close ally South Korea stopping regular military drills Pyongyang considers as preparation for invasion.
Trump was speaking a day after he returned from a 12-day trip through Asia that included a state visit to China, where he was hosted by President Xi Jinping.
"President Xi recognizes that a nuclear North Korea is a grave threat to China, and we agreed that we would not accept a so-called freeze for freeze agreement, like those that have consistently failed in the past," Trump said.
He said Xi pledged to implement U.N. sanctions that aim to deprive North Korea of revenues for its weapons programs "and to use his great economic influence over the regime to achieve our common goal of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula."
China is North Korea's traditional ally and accounts for about 90 percent of the isolated nation's external trade - including virtually all its oil supplies.
Speaking at the White House, Trump cast his Asian sojourn as a "tremendous success," saying the United States was feted by foreign leaders and asserted its strength in the world.
"America's renewed confidence and standing in the world has never been stronger than it is right now," Trump said, detailing his stops in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
China sending envoy to North Korea
Following Trump's visit to Beijing, China said Wednesday it would send a high-level special envoy to North Korea amid an extended chill in relations between the neighbors over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile programs.
Song Tao, the head of China's ruling Communist Party's International Department, will travel to Pyongyang Friday to report on outcomes of the party's national congress held last month, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Xinhua said Song, as president and party leader Xi Jinping's special envoy, would carry out a "visit" in addition to delivering his report, but gave no details about his itinerary or meetings. It also made no mention of Trump's trip to Beijing or the North's weapons programs, although Trump has repeatedly called on Beijing to do more to use its influence to pressure Pyongyang into altering its behavior.