Trump would be ‘honoured’ to meet Kim
U.S. president has a history of praising and even seeming to admire world’s dictators
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he would be “honoured” to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “under the right circumstances.” Trump’s comments came amid heightened tensions with North Korea, whose nuclear weapons program has sparked deep concerns in the international community, and just a day after Trump said he would not rule out military action against North Korea.
“If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honoured to do it,” Trump told Bloomberg in a Monday interview. “If it’s under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that.”
The president acknowledged that his willingness to meet with a dictator known for oppressing his people — comments that are sure to spark an outcry from everyone from diplomats to the human rights community — was more than a little unconventional.
“Most political people would never say that,” Trump said in the Bloomberg interview, “but I’m telling you under the right circumstances I would meet with him. We have breaking news.”
The president has a history of praising, and even seeming to admire, the strongmen dictators who more typically earn international condemnation than begrudging respect. His relationship with and seeming fondness for Russian President Vladimir Putin dogged his campaign and now continues to distract in his administration.
Trump also hosted Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi at the White House last month, despite Sissi being barred from the White House under former president Barack Obama, after coming to power through a military takeover. On Saturday, he invited Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to visit the White House, despite the leader’s war on drugs that has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Filipinos.
The president has also praised Kim before. In an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, Trump said Kim was “a pretty smart cookie” because “at a very young age, he was able to assume power.”
“A lot of people, I’m sure, tried to take that power away, whether it was his uncle or anybody else,” Trump said on the Sunday show. “And he was able to do it. So obviously, he’s a pretty smart cookie.”
Kim had his uncle executed in 2013. He is also widely believed to have had his half-brother assassinated.