Trump: I’d be ‘honored’ to meet Kim Jong Un under ‘right circumstances’
US - President Donald Trump said Monday he would be willing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “under the right circumstances” to defuse tensions over North Korea’s nuclear program. “If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it,” Trump told Bloomberg News in an interview Monday. “If it’s under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that.” No sitting US president has ever met with the leader of North Korea while in power, and the idea is extremely controversial. White House press secretary Sean Spicer, however, said later on Monday that the US would first need to see changes in North Korean behavior before a potential sit-down. “We’ve got to see their provocative behavior ratcheted down immediately,” Spicer said. “Clearly, the conditions are not there right now.”
Spicer also offered an explanation for Trump’s view, expressed to CBS, that Kim is a “smart cookie.” “He assumed power at a young age when his father passed,” Spicer said. “There was a lot of potential threats that could have come his way. He’s managed to lead a country forward, despite the concerns that we and so many people have. He is a young person to be leading a country with nuclear weapons.” Speaking yesterday, a Chinese official said: “The only feasible way to a denuclearized Korean peninsula as well as peace and stability there is through dialogue and construction.” “This is also the only correct choice,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said, calling on all sides to “find a breakthrough in the resumption of peace talks as soon as possible.” Trump’s comment about meeting Kim comes as tensions have risen in recent months between the US and North Korea as Pyongyang has sought to advance its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and Washington has made a show of force in the region to deter their use. The US directed an aircraft carrierled strike group to the region as well as deployed a new antiballistic missile system to South Korea. CIA Director Mike Pompeo arrived in Seoul over the weekend plans to attend internal meetings with US Forces Korea and embassy staff, according to Daniel Turnbull, a spokesperson for the US Embassy. Despite pivotal elections in South Korea next week, Pompeo has no plans to meet with any of the presidential candidates. Leading candidates have promised a new era of relations with Pyongyang.
Trump said during the presidential campaign that he would be willing to meet with Kim Jong Un, explaining in June that “there’s a 10% or 20% chance that I can talk him out of those damn nukes ‘cause who the hell wants him to have nukes.” “I’ll speak to anybody,” Trump said then. His comments received criticism from both sides of the aisle at the time, and since Trump has become president, top officials in his administration have taken a more equivocal position on the issue.
(CNN)