Washington (June 08, 2018): United States President Donald Trump said that he may invite North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the United States if their meeting in Singapore next week goes well.
“Yes … if it goes well, I think that could happen,” he told reporters during a Rose Garden news conference, taking questions alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Trump also said he could envision a normalization of ties between the US and North Korea if a deal is reached with Kim.
“Normalizing relations is something that I would expect to do after everything is complete,” Trump said. “We would certainly like to see normalization.”
Trump also reiterated his position on a series of other issues, making clear the US, South Korea, Japan and China will help North Korea’s economy if a deal is reached. Trump also said Kim’s letter to him “was just very nice,” but did not say much “other than we look forward to seeing you.”
While sanctions remain in place on North Korea, the term “maximum pressure” is retired — for now, Trump added. “Maximum pressure is absolutely in effect. We don’t use the term anymore because we are going into a friendly negotiation,” Trump said.
“Perhaps after that negotiation I will be using it again,” he said. “You’ll know how well we do with the negotiation. If you hear me saying we are going to use maximum pressure, you know the negotiation did not do well, frankly.”
Trump said he had a list of 300 “massive sanctions” to apply on Pyongyang, but he was holding off as the diplomacy proceeds. Earlier Thursday, Trump said the summit will be “more than a photo-op.”
The “summit is all ready to go” and that it could extend beyond a single day, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
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