WASHINGTON/SEOUS (Reuters)-US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would like to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year and is open to new trade negotiations with South Korea, even when he launched more criticism of the Asian ally.
“I would like to meet him this year,” Trump told journalists at the Oval Hall as he hosted the new South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in the White House. “I’m looking forward to meeting Kim Jong Un in the appropriate future.”
Trump and Lee held their first meeting under tension. The US president filed a “purge or revolution” places in South Korea on social networks, to later back in the comments as a probable “misunderstanding” among the allies.
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Despite closed a trade agreement in July that saved South Korean exports from the most severe US tariffs, both sides continue to discuss nuclear energy, military spending and details of a trade agreement that includes the $ 350 billion promise in South Korean investments in the United States.
North Korea’s rhetoric has intensified, with Kim promising to accelerate its nuclear program and condemning joint military exercises between the US and South Korea. Over the weekend, Kim supervised the firing test of new air defense systems.
Since Trump’s inauguration in January, Kim has ignored Trump’s repeated appeals to reactivate direct diplomacy persecuted by him during his term from 2017 to 2021, which has not produced any agreement to interrupt the North Korean nuclear program.
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In the Oval Hall, Lee avoided the theatrical clashes that dominated the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in February and the visit of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May.
Employing a well -used strategy by foreign visitors to Trump’s White House, Lee spoke about golf and praised the interior decoration and pacification work of the Republican president. Earlier, he told reporters that he read the 1987 president’s memories book, “Donald Trump: The Art of Negotiation” to prepare.
During the meeting, the Liberal South Korean encouraged Trump to get involved with North Korea.
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“I hope you can bring peace to the Korean Peninsula, the only divided nation in the world, so that you can meet with Kim Jong Un, build a Trump World (real estate complex) in North Korea so I can play golf there and so you can actually play a role of world historical pacifier,” Lee said in Korean.
South Korea’s economy depends a lot on the US, and Washington ensures its safety with troops and nuclear dissuasion. Trump called Seoul a “money machine” that takes advantage of US military protection.
Trump pressures South Korea about the trade agreement already achieved and a series of issues related to the military alliance of countries.
