President Trump dangled an invitation to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to the U.S. at a White House presser today to talk about next week’s Singapore summit.
Asked if that means an invitation to the White House or Mar-a-Lago, Trump, standing with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, smiled and answered “maybe we will start with the White House.”
If things go well at the summer, Trump said he could sign an agreement to end the Korean War after all these years, saying “that’s the easy part.”
But, he said, current sanctions will not be lifted until they have an agreement to de-nuke North Korea. Trump boasted he has lots more North Korea sanctions up his sleeve, which he also can whip out if the talks to not go well. He informed Rose Garden Reporters, and viewers watching the televised presse, that he has stopped using catchphrase “maximum pressure”, in re North Korea, but if they hear him use say that from the summit, it will be their secret code that talks are not going well.
Trump insisted he is “willing to walk away” from the talks.
Trump predicted the summit will be a “terrific success” or a “modified success” and that a lot of things can happen between now and then. He told his Rose Garden crowd he looks forward to traveling to Singapore with them, noting it’s a long flight and that he believes “we have the potential to do something incredible for the world” adding “it’s my honor to be involved.”
Abe, when he got the chance to speak, made very clear he would not support any deal that did not include returning those Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea, and curbing short and medium range missiles that threaten his country though not so much Trump’s.
Trump made a point of sending love to the family of Otto Warmbier, who he said “has not died in vain.’ College student Warmbier was shipped home from North Korea in a coma and died a year ago this month, after being arrested and sentenced to 15 years incarceration in North Korea on theft charges.
Trump got asked what was in the clown letter Kim Jong Un sent to him last week. Trump soft-shoed, then said it was “just a greeting…a very warm letter, very nice letter, nothing other than ‘looking forward to seeing you at the summit’ and that hopefully some wonderful things will work out.”
“It was very warm and very nice and we appreciated it,” Trump enthused.
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