President Trump said he plans to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, following a request from South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to the president to help bring about peace on the peninsula.
“Thanks to your efforts when you were in office during your first term, the situation on the Korean peninsula was stable. But, during the short — the hiatus where you were out of office, North Korea developed further its nuclear and missile capabilities and that lead to a deterioration on the situation of the Korean peninsula,” Lee said during his sit-down with Trump in the Oval Office.
Trump replied, “And they wouldn’t have done that, they would not have done that if I were president.”
“I completely agree with you,” the South Korean leader said, adding that Trump’s relationship with Kim isn’t bad. “I believe that this is a sign that North Korea is waiting, so I hope that you will usher in a new era of peace on the Korean peninsula.”
“I will do that and we’ll have talks. He’d like to meet with me. He didn’t want to meet with Biden because he had no respect for Biden, but we look forward to meeting with him and we’ll make relations better. You’ll help that,” Trump said.
Trump said the meeting would take place “in the appropriate future,” adding that he would like to meet Kim this year when pressed by reporters in the Oval Office on timing.
The South Korean leader argued that Trump is “the only person who can make progress on this issue.”
“We can do big progress, I think, with North Korea. Absolutely,” Trump said.
Lee quipped, while requesting help from Trump in starting peace talks, that he may want to open a business venture in North Korea.
“I would like to mention that the only remaining divided nation in the world is the Korean peninsula and I would like to ask for your role in establishing peace on the Korean peninsula. So, I look forward to your meeting with Chairman Kim Jong Un and construction of Trump Tower in North Korea,” Lee said, and Trump smiled.
The meeting on Monday is the first in-person meeting between the two leaders after Lee, a former child laborer who rose through the ranks to lead the liberal Democratic Party, was elected in June.
Trump in February said the U.S. will have relations with North Korea and touted his personal relationship with Kim. He held two summits with Kim during his first term, in Vietnam and Singapore, but failed to achieve North Korea’s denuclearization.
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