WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will reach out to Kim Jong-un again, calling the North Korean leader, whom he has met three times before, a “smart guy” in an interview broadcast on Thursday.
The Republican maintained unusual diplomatic ties with the estranged Kim during his previous administration from 2017 to 2021, not only meeting him but saying the two “fell in love.”
But his own Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, admitted in his confirmation hearing that the effort did not lead to a lasting deal to end North Korea’s nuclear program.
During a Fox News interview, when asked if he would reconnect with Kim, Donald Trump replied: “Yes, I would. She liked me.”
North Korea says it is seeking nuclear weapons to counter threats from the US and its allies, including South Korea.
The two Koreas have been technically at war since the 1950 to 1953 conflict, which ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
The isolated and impoverished North, which has carried out numerous nuclear tests and periodically test-fired missiles from its ballistic arsenal, also likes to tout its nuclear program as a symbol of its prestige.
However, Washington and others have warned that the program is becoming unsustainable, and the United Nations has passed several resolutions calling for sanctions on North Korea’s efforts.
Rubio called Kim a “dictator” during his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month.
“I think there needs to be a very serious look at the broader policies of North Korea,” Rubio said.
Rubio called for North Korea’s efforts to prevent war with South Korea and Japan and to see that “we can end the crisis without encouraging other nation-states to advance their nuclear weapons programs.” What can be done to stop it?”
During the Fox interview, Trump recalled his effort to reach an arms deal with North Korea’s allies Russia and China at the end of his first term.
According to reports at the time, the 2019 effort would have set new limits for unregulated Russian nuclear weapons and prompted China to join the arms control treaty.
“I was very close to making a deal. I would have made a deal with (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin on this, denuclearization … but we had a bad election that stopped us,” he told Democrat Joe Biden. Referring to the defeat in 2020, he said.
Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, Pat Hegseth, recently described North Korea as a “nuclear power” in a statement submitted to a Senate panel.
Seoul’s Defense Ministry responded by saying that Pyongyang’s status as a nuclear power “cannot be accepted” and that it would work with Washington to eliminate its nuclear weapons.
Pyongyang launched several short-range ballistic missiles in the days leading up to Trump’s inauguration on January 20, prompting analysts to speculate whether Kim was trying to send a message to Trump.
