US President Donald Trump has said he may meet North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, maybe even as soon as this year. Trump made the announcement while meeting his South Korean counterpart Lee Jae Myung at the White House on August 25.
South Korea’s Lee backed Trump on his plan to meet Seoul’s long-time foe and said the country would prefer diplomacy over confrontation.
Lee added that he would ‘actively support’ Trump if he wanted to “play the peacemaker,” and that the US president was “the only person who can actually solve” tensions between North and South Korea, who remain technically at war after the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Trump met Kim Jong Un thrice during his first term. While the meetings did simmer the tensions between Pyongyang and Washington, no last peace agreement was reached. Trump once said that he and Kim "fell in love" during their meetings.
"Someday I'll see him. I look forward to seeing him. He was very good with me," Trump told reporters, saying he hoped the talks would take place this year.
But Kim has since been emboldened by the war in Ukraine, securing critical support from Russia after sending thousands of North Korean troops to fight. North Korea has dug in and refused any talk of ending its nuclear weapons program.
Lee immediately flattered his host and said Trump has made the United States "not a keeper of peace, but a maker of peace."
"I look forward to your meeting with Chairman Kim Jong Un and construction of Trump Tower in North Korea and playing golf" there, Lee told him.
Korean Air announced after the talks that it would buy more than 100 aircraft from US manufacturer Boeing, as Trump presses allies hard for business.
Trump, who frequently accuses European allies of freeloading off the United States, made clear he would seek greater compensation by South Korea over the 28,500 US troops in the country.
He suggested the United States could seek to take over base land, an idea likely to enrage Lee's brethren on the South Korean left.
"We spent a lot of money building a fort, and there was a contribution made by South Korea, but I would like to see if we could get rid of the lease and get ownership of the land where we have a massive military base," the US president said.
