Seoul Trump says meeting with Kim is good

Seoul Trump says meeting with Kim is good SEOUL — South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said Saturday that US President Donald Trump thinks a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would be “good”. Washington has for decades led efforts to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program, but summits, sanctions and diplomatic pressure have had little impact. In recent months, the Trump administration has pushed to revive high-level talks with Pyongyang, eyeing a possible summit with Kim Jong Un this year, potentially during Trump’s April visit to Beijing. Seoul’s Kim, who met Trump in Washington, said the US president told him “Meeting (Kim Jong Un) would be good. It’s really good to meet. But it could happen when we go to China this time, or it might not, or it could even be later, couldn’t it?” Kim told reporters in the United States that he and Trump agreed that if a meeting with Kim Jong Un “happens soon, or around the time of the China visit, that would in itself be meaningful.” “But even if not, what matters in essence is that dialogue or contact takes place, and (Trump) appears firm on that point,” Kim added. Trump said during a trip to Asia in October that he was “100 percent” open to meeting with Kim Jong Un, a remark that went unanswered by the North. After largely ignoring those overtures for months, Kim Jong Un recently said that the two nations could “get along” if Washington accepted Pyongyang’s nuclear status. North Korea also recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with South Korea, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce”. Nuclear-armed Pyongyang, which has bolstered military ties with Russia, has condemned the US-Israeli attack on Iran as an “illegal act of aggression”.

In recent months, the Trump administration has pushed to revive high-level talks with Pyongyang. Eyeing a possible summit with Kim Jong Un this year, potentially during Trump’s April visit to Beijing, the White House has been open to dialogue and diplomatic engagement.

South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, who met with President Trump in Washington, noted that Trump believes meeting with Kim Jong Un would be positive. The US president seems willing to hold talks with the North Korean leader, despite limited progress made through previous attempts at dialogue.

Kim Jong Un has suggested that dialogue could help improve relations between the two nations. After largely ignoring overtures for months, he recently said that if Washington accepted Pyongyang’s nuclear status, the two countries could “get along.” However, recent tensions and setbacks in peace efforts have dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with South Korea. North Korea described its latest attempts at dialogue as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.”

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