President Donald Trump on Tuesday called North Korea’s leader a “very honorable” man, adding that he hopes their meeting will happen “as soon as possible.”
“He really has been very open and, I think, very honorable from everything we’re seeing,” Trump said of Kim Jong-un during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House. According to The Associated Press, the President expressed high hopes for his meeting with the totalitarian leader, which could happen as soon as next month.
“So we’re having very good discussions,” he said. “Now, a lot of promises have been made by North Korea over the years, but they’ve never been in this position.”
Trump’s comments on Kim have drastically changed since last year when he called the North Korean leader “Little Rocket Man” while speaking about the size of his nuclear button.
However, the tone and the kind words were striking coming from any U.S. president. The United States has accused North Korea of ordering the execution of Kim’s brother with a forbidden nerve agent.
Meanwhile, the controversial government has faced persistent criticism from human-rights groups that say it starves its own citizens.
Although Trump stated that he has high hopes for the planned nuclear summit, the President also said that he is going to walk away from the meeting if the talks are not as productive as he plans.
“Unlike past administrations, I will leave the table. But I think we have the chance to do something very special,” he said.
Past presidents of the U.S. were trying to avoid negotiations with North Korea to try and end its nuclear program, but President Trump went against that policy.
The reason why past presidents have avoided negotiations is in large part because they considered the North Koreans as untrustworthy partners.
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