President Donald Trump said Wednesday he expects to meet with dictator Kim Jong Un “later this year,” signaling ongoing direct diplomacy with Pyongyang despite a direct denial by North Korea.
“I get along with him very well,” Trump told reporters during an impromptu White House construction walkthrough, adding, “I expected to meet with him later this year. Yeah, I will be.”
North Korea rejected Trump’s reference to talks.
“The relationship between the two leaders remains excellent,” Kim Yo Jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, wrote in a statement, according to state media KCNA. “However, the U.S.’s hostile policies toward the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea haven’t changed.”
Trump declined to say whether he had exchanged letters with Kim, telling a reporter, “Can’t tell you that.”
The president repeatedly pointed to his personal relationship with the North Korean leader as an asset, calling Kim a “very powerful player” and saying their ability to get along was “a good thing, not a bad thing.”
Trump did not provide a date or location for the potential meeting.
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