US President Donald Trump said in an interview on Monday he would be honored to meet DPRK leader Kim Jong Un under the right circumstances, after calling Kim "a pretty smart cookie" on his 100th day in the White House.
"If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it," Trump told Bloomberg News. "If it's under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that."
The United States has no diplomatic relations with the DPRK and no US president has ever met with a DPRK leader before.
The frequency of missile tests has increased significantly under the leadership of Kim Jong Un. /CGTN Graphic
American Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last week that the US would not negotiate with Pyongyang until it made credible steps towards giving up its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
Trump admitted the idea of a possible meeting with Kim seemed controversial. "Most political people would never say that," he said. "But I'm telling you under the right circumstances I would meet with him. We have breaking news."
Commenting on Trump's remarks, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer stressed that "clearly conditions are not there right now" for a Trump-Kim meeting, as the DPRK needs to ratchet down its "provocative behavior" first.
China has repeatedly stressed its commitment to the goal of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and called for a peaceful solution to the issue.
Trump calls Kim Jong Un "a pretty smart cookie."
During an interview with CBS on Saturday, Trump described Kim as "a pretty smart cookie" who dealt with "obviously very tough people" after taking over from his father Kim Jong Il as a young man in his 20s.
"He assumed power at a young age when his father passed," Spicer explained. "There were a lot of potential threats that could have come his way. He's managed to lead a country forward, despite the concerns that we and so many people have. He is a young person to be leading a country with nuclear weapons."
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