Trump calls North Korea a “nuclear power”
Agence France-Presse reported that Donald Trump, aboard the presidential plane, when asked if he agreed with North Korea’s demand to be recognized as a nuclear state as a precondition for talks with Washington, replied: “I think they are a nuclear power of some kind.”
“When you say they should be recognized as a nuclear power, well, I say they have a lot of nuclear weapons,” Trump said.
Trump is expected to travel to South Korea on Wednesday (November 29) to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
US media had previously reported that Trump administration officials had privately discussed a meeting between him and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump has said he hopes to meet Kim again this year.
The North Korean leader said last month that he had “good memories” of Trump and was ready to talk if the US dropped its “illusory” demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons.
Yesterday, South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-yong said he believed there was a “significant” chance that Trump would meet Kim during his trip to the Korean peninsula next week.
But a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters in a telephone call yesterday that a meeting was “not on the agenda for this trip.”