Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un may not have gotten along in recent months, but the pair have agreed to meet for a discussion on North Korea’s nuclear program.
The White House announced Thursday that the President has accepted Kim’s invitation, and Chung Eui-yong — a South Korean official — said the two leaders would meet within two months.
The development comes as a surprise, since Trump and Jong-un have exchanged verbal jabs for several months over the threat of North Korea deploying nuclear missiles onto the U.S. mainland. Trump has repeatedly called the country’s authoritarian leader “Little Rocket Man” among other insults, while Jong-Un slammed the former Apprentice star by calling him a “dotard.”
SLIDESHOW: DONALD TRUMP’S 30 CRAZIEST TWEETS
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The president said in tweet that he was hopeful about meeting with Jong-un, and added the North Korean leader “talked about denuclearization with the South Korean Representatives, not just a freeze.”
“Also, no missile testing by North Korea during this period of time,” Trump also said. “Great progress being made but sanctions will remain until an agreement is reached. Meeting being planned!”
Joint military exercises with the United States and South Korea would go ahead as planned following the end of the Paralympic Games this month.
Chung — who is South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s national security adviser — made the announcement outside the White House on Wednesday evening.
Trump was not scheduled to meet Chung until Friday. However, after the President heard the envoy was in the West Wing seeing other officials, the president reportedly summoned him to the Oval Office.
Trump also reportedly called Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to coordinate diplomatic efforts and plans to call President Xi Jinping of China.
The White House is currently facing huge turmoil after another string of resignations from administration officials. Following communications director Hope Hicks’ departure last week, Trump’s chief economic adviser Gary Cohn announced his resignation Tuesday after he appeared poised to lose an internal dispute over the administrations’ plan to impose large tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, The move has initiated a trade war with other nations who have threatened to retaliate with tariffs of their own. The tariffs proposed by Trump could severely hurt the U.S. economy.
To cap it all off, President Trump is also being sued by pornographic actress Stormy Daniels — with whom he had an extramarital affair in 2006 — for allegedly failing to sign a non-disclosure agreement about their encounter.
North and South Korea have exchanged high-level envoys in recent weeks, including Kim’s sister Kim Yo-jong, who traveled to South Korea as the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang were beginning last month as a sign of desire for peace between the two nations.
Analysts voiced skepticism about Trump’s decision to meet Kim, saying there was no indication that North Korea had abandoned its determination to be a nuclear weapons state.
“There is every reason to believe that North Korea is attempting to blunt sanctions and secure de facto legitimacy for its nuclear weapons program with this gesture,” said Michael J. Green, a former Asia adviser to President George W. Bush.
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