US President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday he would like to meet communist North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un during his current tour of Asia, which also includes a final stop in South Korea.
“I haven’t mentioned it, I haven’t said anything, but I would love to meet her if she would like to meet,” korea joongang daily Trump was quoted as saying on Air Force One. Trump arrived in Malaysia on Sunday for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting and left for Japan on Monday, where he met Emperor Naruhito on Monday.
Trump said of Kim, “I have a good relationship with him, I would love to meet him.” He suggested that he could expand his itinerary to Asia if Pyongyang indicated that Kim would like to meet.
“Its [South Korea] It’s our last stop, so it’s very easy to do,” Trump said of the rescheduling.
North Korea, a totalitarian communist state that has imprisoned thousands of people in camps for believing in Christianity or rejecting communism, is one of the most openly anti-communist states in the world. During his first term in the White House, Trump prioritized negotiations to limit the threat that North Korea, which has illegally developed nuclear weapons, poses to neighboring South Korea and Japan, Washington’s key Asian allies. These talks led to the two leaders meeting in person three times, and Trump made history in 2019 by becoming the first US president to set foot on North Korean soil.
FILE/North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump before a meeting at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Panmunjom, Korea, June 30, 2019. (Brandon Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Progress toward civil relations ended abruptly in 2021 with the inauguration of former President Joe Biden, whom Pyongyang described as an “idiot” suffering from “senility” for years. The Biden White House has had no clear policy on the Korean Peninsula during its four years in office, mostly ignoring the region other than hosting South Korean pop group BTS to lead an initiative to “prevent” racism. However, as acknowledged in state media, Kim Jong-un appeared to maintain warm feelings toward Trump personally. Kim notably sent the congratulatory letter shortly after surviving an assassination attempt during Trump’s 2024 campaign.
“He sincerely hopes that he will be recovered as soon as possible. He hopes that they will definitely overcome this,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said of Kim’s letter at the time.
Trump has repeatedly suggested during his second term that he hoped circumstances would allow him to meet Kim in person once again. His comments on Monday follow similar suggestions on Friday before he landed in Malaysia.
Trump said in those comments, “Well, if he would reach out I would. The last time I met with him, I put it out on the Internet that I was coming to South Korea and if he wanted to meet, I would be willing to do that. I would do that.” “He probably knows I’m coming, right? If you want to make your point, I’m all for it.”
Trump previously said he was “100 percent” in favor of meeting Kim again.
The North Korean government has given no public indication that Kim is considering planning a meeting with Trump. In contrast, KCNA and other government propaganda vehicles published messages throughout the weekend that Pyongyang was focusing on strengthening its ties with America’s most formidable enemies, namely Russia and China. Kim sent his top diplomat, Foreign Minister Cho Son-hui, to Moscow this week for discussions on how to improve bilateral ties. Cho celebrated during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday that the two countries’ ties have reached a “new height” since North Korea entered the Ukraine war zone, helping Russia fight Ukrainian troops in the area of Kursk, which Ukraine retaliated against last year.
Meanwhile, in Pyongyang, KCNA reported that Kim’s regime “welcomed a Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) delegation” on Sunday, without giving details on the nature of the visit.
Kim’s last major public appearance came on Friday, at which he attended a ceremony to lay the cornerstone for the “Memorial Museum of Combat Feats,” a planned museum and cemetery honoring North Korea’s participation in the Ukraine invasion.
Referring to the Ukraine War, Kim claimed, “Even the transfusion of massive amounts of blood by the United States and its Western bloc proved futile in cooling the righteous blood in the vessels of both peoples,” and that even the horrific atrocities of fascism could not dampen the phoenix-like fighting spirit and heroism.
“Pyongyang will always stand by Moscow. Our friendship and unity will always remain,” he said at the time.
Kim and Trump met three times during his first term, once in Singapore, once at the inter-Korean border and once in Hanoi, Vietnam. The Vietnam meeting in February 2019 ended abruptly with Trump’s exit, declaring that the North Koreans were too inflexible in negotiations, demanding sanctions relief without accepting limits on their illegal nuclear development.
“Sometimes you’ve got to walk away and this was one of those times,” Trump shrugged at the time.
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