US President Donald Trump has said that he would be open to a meeting with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator who’s been ignoring warnings of punitive measures from the US and China (much to Trump’s chagrin), but only “under the right circumstances.” The purpose of such a meeting would be to cool off the tensions currently boiling between their two nations with regards to the incendiary issue (pun absolutely intended) of Kim’s nuclear weapons program.
‘I would absolutely’ meet with Kim Jong-un, says Trump
Trump said he “would be honoured” to meet with Kim Jong-un, on the condition that “it would be appropriate for (him)” to do it.
He seemed enthusiastic about it, saying he “would absolutely” meet with Kim if the two countries could work that out, but made sure to make it clear that he would only do so “under the, again, under the right circumstances,” but then backtracked yet again by saying, “But I would do that.”
So, to sum up, Trump would like to meet with Kim but would only do so under the right set of circumstances but would definitely do it but again would only do it under the right set of circumstances but he would absolutely do it. The President was making these bold claims during an interview with Bloomberg News conducted yesterday.
No US President has ever met a North Korean leader whilst in office
It’s worth noting that no sitting President of the United States has ever met with a North Korean leader.
The very idea of it is absurdly controversial, but then so is Trump himself. But Trump isn’t just going over there willy-nilly right this second. Remember, he said he’d only meet with Kim “under the right circumstances.” So, what exactly do those “circumstances” entail?
According to White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, the Trump administration is going to have to see some changes in the way Kim and his regime over in Pyongyang are handling things before he gets to meet POTUS.
Spicer said that North Korea’s “provocative behaviour” will need to be “ratcheted down immediately” if such a meeting is to take place. Spicer added that “clearly, the conditions are not there right now” for Trump to go over there to meet Kim or, worse yet, have Kim over for a steak dinner at the White House.
Trump is risking nuclear war by threatening military action
In an attempt to get Pyongyang to curb the advancement of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which was brought on by trigger-happy Trump’s Presidential win in the first place, Trump has been threatening military action. He’s sent a Navy strike force to North Korean waters, which has only made Kim more eager to develop nuclear weapons and an intercontinental missile (so far, no luck, thankfully), and has threatened that if the strike force fires one single bullet, he will nuke America. Clearly, this is a delicate matter that Trump is only just finally taking seriously.
The strike force has deployed a brand-new anti-ballistic missile system to South Korea, the shrew, nicer cousin of the nuke-toting North.
Visiting Seoul during the weekend, Mike Pompeo, the Director of the CIA, will be taking meetings with the US Forces on the Korean peninsula and employees at the embassy – this announcement was made by Daniel Turnbull, a US Embassy spokesman. However, Pompeo will not be taking any meetings with South Korean Presidential candidates, despite the fact their elections are just next week. The candidates currently taking the lead have focused on what they’ll be doing about their relationship with Pyongyang and the threats posed by them during their campaigns – that plays well to terrified, paranoid South Korean voters. No meetings on the Korean peninsula for Trump as of yet, but we’ll see how that develops as long as he’s happy to “absolutely” meet with Kim Jong-un.
This isn’t the first time Trump has said he would meet with Kim Jong-un. He said during his Presidential campaign that he would meet with Kim and that there was “a 10% or 20% chance” that he would be able to “talk him out of those damn nukes, ‘cause who the hell wants him to have nukes?”
