Martha MacCallum to Nikki Haley: Was It Mistake for Trump to Say North Korea No Longer a Nuclear Threat?

While President Donald Trump claimed North Korea had ceased being a nuclear threat following his Singapore summit with dictator Kim Jong Un last June, Ambassador Nikki Haley was asked if that was the right move.

The direct question came at the end of an interview Thursday with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum, who wondered whether Trump’s remark was a mistake.

“No, I don’t think it was a mistake because I think that what you saw were two leaders that both showed they had the political will to go forward,” Haley said, adding that “we both have to figure out how each defines denuclearization.”

Haley noted it was made “very clear that we want to see denuclearization with verification,” contending that it’s been a success “in that we haven’t had any ballistic missile tests, you’re seeing Kim now socialize with the region — that needed to happen.”

Although serious doubt remains on the prospects of Kim giving up the entirety of his nuclear capabilities, the ambassador credited Trump for what she described as a win for their administration.

“Kim felt suffocated,” Haley said of the pressure of sanctions. “The president opened that door to him to say there’s a different life for North Koreans if you want it.”

On the timeline for denuclearizaztion, Haley said it would be a slow process.

“It is baby steps,” she told MacCallum. “It’s not going to happen overnight. We knew that but, we can’t accept half measures. That would be doing it like previous administrations. We have to do this completely, fully and we have to do it by making sure we’re continuing the sanctions and continuing to hold North Korea’s hand to the fire.”

Watch the clip above, via Fox News.

[Image via screengrab]