OSAKA, Japan—President Donald Trump said on June 29 that he invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to meet him at the Korean border (the DMZ).
“I will be in South Korea. I let him know. And we’ll see if he’s there. We’ll see each other for two minutes. That’s all we can,” Trump told reporters on the second day of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Osaka before this bilateral meeting with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman.
Trump’s remarks came after he tweeted this morning, announcing his offer to meet and shake hands with Kim.
He wrote, “I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!”
After some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China, I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2019
During his remarks before the bilateral meeting with the Saudi prince, Trump said the United States would be in a war with North Korea if he was not elected.
“It’s good to get along. Because frankly if I didn’t become President, we’d be right now in a war with North Korea. … And by the way, that’s a certainty. That’s not like, maybe.”
He said that Kim sent him “a very beautiful birthday card,” and he believed he got his reply back “because it’s in the newspapers.”
But he said he thought about putting out a tweet to make his offer clear.
“We’ll be in the area. We may go to the DMZ or the border, as they call it. By the way, when you talk about a wall, when you talk about a border, that’s what they call a border. Nobody goes through that border.”
Leaders from 19 countries and the European Union have gathered June 28-29 in Osaka for this year’s G-20 summit. President Trump’s bilateral meetings took the center stage at this year’s summit.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other world leaders attend a family photo session at G20 summit on June 28, 2019 in Osaka, Japan. (Kim Kyung-Hoon – Pool/Getty Images)
On the first day of the summit, Trump held high stakes meetings with leaders including meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Trump is also expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the second day of the summit.
Trump said he would discuss issues surrounding Huawei during his meeting with Xi.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is flanked by U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan on June 28, 2019. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
“We’ll be discussing Huawei but we’ll be discussing the trade deal. We’ll be discussing a lot of things. I was with him last night. A lot was accomplished actually last night,” Trump said.
“The relationship is very good with China,” he added. “As to whether or not we can make a deal, time will tell.”
