Trump said he would consider extending his Asia trip to add a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, even as South Korean officials expressed doubt that it would happen.
“I’d love to meet with him, if he’d like to meet,” said Trump, who had three in-person meetings with Kim during his first term. “I got along great with Kim Jong Un. I liked him, he liked me.”
Asked if he would be willing to extend his stay in South Korea to add a Kim meeting to his schedule, Trump told reporters, “It’s our last stop, so it’s pretty easy to do.”
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2019. Susan Walsh / AP file
Trump and Kim last met in 2019 at the Demilitarized Zone, the heavily fortified buffer between North and South Korea, after earlier nuclear talks collapsed amid disagreements over U.S.-led sanctions on the isolated state. Though Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in resuming diplomacy with Kim, the North Korean leader has only further strengthened his weapons programs since Trump’s first term and now says he will negotiate only if the U.S. recognizes North Korea as a nuclear power.
Oh Hyun-joo, a deputy director of South Korea’s national security office, said earlier today that Seoul viewed the likelihood of a Trump-Kim meeting as “very low.”
However, there is “a chance that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could still change his mind and accept the U.S. proposal,” she said.
AloJapan.com