At Joke-filled Dinner, Trump Suggests US Will Meet with North Korea
Suggests US may, one day, have a president for life
In the midst of a joke-filled monologue at a dinner with journalists, President Donald Trump suggested on Saturday that the United States will be meeting with North Korea but has told Pyongyang it must first“denuke”, Reuters reported on Sunday.
“Now we are talking and they, by the way, called up a couple of days ago. They said that‘we would like to talk.’ And I said‘So would we, but you have to denuke, you have to denuke,’” Trump told attendees at the annual Gridiron Club dinner.
“We will be meeting and we’ll see if anything positive happens,” he added.
It was unclear if Trump was joking or if formal U.S.-North Korea talks were imminent.
“I won’t rule out direct talks with Kim Jong Un. I just won’t,” he said, referring to North Korea’s leader.
Trump did, however, make a joke at his own expense.
“As far as the risk of dealing with a madman is concerned, that’s his problem, not mine,” Trump said.
If a meeting were to come together, it would be the first between the Trump administration and Pyongyang, which are in a standoff over North’s development of nuclear weapons capable of hitting the United States.
Trump’s remarks came shortly before South Korea’s presidency announced on Sunday that a high-level delegation of South Korean officials will travel to North Korea on Monday to discuss improving relations on the peninsula and possible talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
After the two-day visit to North Korea, the special envoys will travel to the United States to brief officials on their discussions in Pyongyang, South Korea’s presidential Blue House said.
Last month, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to meet with North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, while in South Korea for the Winter Olympics but the North Koreans canceled at the last minute, U.S. officials said in February.
They said the North Koreans had walked away after Pence condemned North Korean human rights abuses and announced plans for new economic sanctions.
Also, PresidentTrump says he thinks it’s great that China’s president now holds that office for life and muses that maybe the U.S. will do the same someday.
Trump’s remarks were met with laughter and applause during a luncheon for Republican donors Saturday at his South Florida estate. CNN said it obtained a recording of the remarks.
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently consolidated power. Trump told the gathering: “He’s now president for life. President for life. And he’s great.” Trump added, “I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll give that a shot someday.”
Trump criticized his Democratic presidential opponent Hillary Clinton, repeated his view about “a rigged system,” and called the Iraq invasion “the single worst decision ever made.” He referred to former President George W. Bush as “another real genius.”