UNITED NATIONS _ A year after he derided North Korea's dictator as "Rocket Man," President Donald Trump returned to the United Nations on Monday with praise for Kim Jong Un, noting, "It's a very different world."
Trump met Kim in Singapore in June, the first summit ever between a U.S. president and a North Korean leader, and Trump later claimed he had secured a promise that Pyongyang would begin the process of denuclearization.
Kim has made "tremendous progress," Trump said Monday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, recently reported that it has found no evidence that North Korea has dismantled any significant nuclear infrastructure or prepared an inventory of its arsenal. U.S. officials have not challenged that assessment.
Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, in a news conference Monday at the U.N., said Trump and Kim would meet in a second summit before the end of the year, "Lord willing."
Pompeo said tough economic sanctions would remain on North Korea until verifiable dismantling of its nuclear infrastructure takes place. He would not say how long that would take. "To set a date certain would be foolish," Pompeo said.
The international resolve to pressure Pyongyang is already beginning to crumble, with China and Russia allowing fuel shipments and other violations of U.S.-backed sanctions.
Trump appeared upbeat, however. He said he had received a letter from Kim, delivered by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, that seeks more talks.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., and John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, joined Pompeo at the news briefing. Bolton, who served as U.S. ambassador to the world body as a recess appointment under President George W. Bush, famously once suggested eliminating several floors at the headquarters. He deadpanned Monday that he was delighted to be back.
They said Trump would focus more attention on what the administration calls Iran's malign behavior when he addresses the full General Assembly on Tuesday, and then chairs a Security Council session on nonproliferation on Wednesday _ an event that Trump has called a meeting specifically targeting Iran.
Iran is "possibly the absolute worst" violator of U.N. rules against terrorism and the spread of armed conflict, Pompeo said.
Haley, Bolton and Pompeo supported Trump's decision to withdraw from the landmark Iran nuclear deal that curtailed Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Trump said the accord failed to rein in Iran, but the five other signatories _ Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany _ continue to support it and are trying to keep it afloat.
Trump will sit down with French President Emmanuel Macron on the margins of the U.N. meetings this week, one of seven foreign leaders he is scheduled to meet.
Haley emphasized that Trump would repeat a theme he struck in his first General Assembly address and that has underpinned much of his foreign policy decisions: American sovereignty as the motivating force for U.S. actions.
Some critics interpret that as a withdrawal from multilateral organizations such as the U.N. that shore up the post-World War II international order.
"The United States is determined to be involved in multilateral (organizations) ... where we see it, not where it infringes on the American people," Haley said.
In recent months, the Trump administration has cut funds for U.N. agencies dealing with refugees and peacekeeping; withdrawn from U.N. organizations like the International Criminal Court and Human Rights Council, and announced plans to slash the number of refugees who will be allowed to settle in the United States.
