Trump says 'most likely' to meet DPRK's Kim again

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US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would “most likely” meet again with Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong Un while defending his efforts to convince Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.

In an interview with Reuters, Trump, who held a landmark summit with Kim on June 12, said he believed the DPRK had taken specific steps toward denuclearization, despite widespread doubts about Kim’s willingness to abandon his arsenal.

Trump, who faced the DPRK challenge as soon as he took office in January 2017, said he had only been working on the DPRK issue for three months whereas his predecessors had been working on it for 30 years.

US President Donald Trump answers questions from Reuters reporters Steve Holland, Jeff Mason and James Oliphant as White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders listens during the interview inside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, US on August 20, 2018. /Reuters Photo

“I stopped (DPRK’s) nuclear testing. I stopped (DPRK’s) missile testing. Japan is thrilled. What’s going to happen? Who knows? We’re going to see,” he said.

Trump has hailed the Singapore summit as a success and went as far as saying the DPRK no longer posed a nuclear threat.

In the interview, Trump credited his “great chemistry” with Kim for easing a nuclear standoff that last year raised fears of a new Korean war.

US President Donald Trump and DPRK's leader Kim Jong Un shake hands during the signing of a document after their summit at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018. /VCG Photo

“I like him. He likes me,” he said. “There are no ballistic missiles going up; there’s a lot of silence ... I have very good personal relations with Chairman Kim, and I think that’s what holds it together.”

Asked whether the DPRK had taken specific steps to denuclearize other than blowing up its main nuclear bomb test site ahead of the summit, Trump said: “I do believe they have.” But he did not elaborate.

(Cover image: US President Donald Trump and DPRK's leader Kim Jong Un walk together before their working lunch during their summit at the Capella Hotel on the resort island of Sentosa, Singapore on June 12, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Reuters