Seoul (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – US President Donald Trump stated on Wednesday that he was unable to arrange a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his visit to South Korea, despite earlier indications that he was open to coordinating a summit.
Earlier, Trump had said he would “love to meet” Kim during his Asia travel, which would have been their first gathering since the US leader’s earlier term in the White House. North Korea has also not answered publicly to the invitation, Reuters reported.
What reasons did Trump give for the cancelled meeting?
“We really weren’t able to work out timing,”
Trump spoke on Wednesday in South Korea, a day prior to his scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“We have President Xi is coming tomorrow, and that was something that obviously is very important to the world, to all of us.”
“I know Kim Jong Un very well… we really weren’t able to work out timing,”
Trump said.
Trump also said he would seek to “straighten out” tensions between North Korea and South Korea as he met South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung for a meeting.
Just hours before Trump’s visit to South Korea, Pyongyang announced that North Korea had test-fired cruise missiles off its western coast in a message directed at “enemies.” Trump also downplayed North Korea’s missile test on Tuesday before his trip to the peninsula, remarking,
“He’s been launching missiles for decades, right?”
When might Trump and Kim meet again in the future?
Trump said earlier on Wednesday he expected to meet with Kim in the
“not too distant future”.
“At some point, we’ll be involved with North Korea. I think they’d like to, and I’d like to,”
Trump told reporters on Air Force One. Kim met Trump three times for high-profile summits during the US leader’s first term.
What happened during Trump and Kim’s last DMZ meeting?
The two leaders’ last spontaneous meeting occurred at Panmunjom in the DMZ that divides the two Koreas. It was quickly organised after Trump invited Kim the day before.
During that event, the two leaders shook hands across the concrete dividing North and South Korea before Trump stepped a few paces into Pyongyang’s territory, making history as the first US president to set foot on North Korean soil.
However, talks collapsed over the extent of North Korea’s willingness to relinquish its nuclear arsenal and what Pyongyang expected in return. Since then, North Korea has continuously declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state.
