US President Donald Trump said he would not allow US intelligence agencies to use spies against North Korea.
The American president was speaking to journalists at the White House last Tuesday when he was asked for an opinion on the report in the Wall Street Journal. According to the report, Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, would have regular meetings with US Central Intelligence Agency officials before being assassinated with VX nerve gas in a busy airport terminal in Malaysia in February of the 2017.
The Wall Street Journal inquiry was taken from a book written by Washington Post correspondent Anna Fifield, which came out on Tuesday. In the book, entitled The Great Successor, Fifield claims that Kim had traveled to Malaysia to meet his CIA reference.
On Tuesday, President Trump said he saw “the information on the CIA, referring to Kim Jong-un's half-brother. "And I would say that it wouldn't happen under my auspices, that's for sure ", Said the president of the United States, before repeating," I wouldn't let it happen under my auspices ". Journalists interpret Trump's comments as meaning that he would not have used human resources or other types of informants to gather information on the North Korean leader's regime.
As can be expected, the statements by the US president have raised eyebrows at politicians and national security experts in Washington.
Furthermore, President Trump's comments continue to put him at odds with the American Intelligence Community, as has happened previously in the cases of the Iranian nuclear program, the current state of the Islamic State, or Russia's interference in American political life.
However, on Wednesday, the president of the United States seemed to be retracing his steps.
During a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda about his previous remarks, Trump denied that he implied that the United States would not use spies to gather information on North Korea. "No, that's not what I meant", The president replied to the journalist who asked him the question. "That's what I said and I think it's different, perhaps, from your interpretationPresident Trump said, but he refused to elaborate on what he really meant with Tuesday's statement.
The Reuters news agency has contacted the CIA in search of an official statement on the statements by the US president, but the agency said it had no immediate comments on the issue.