President vows to raise issue of abducted Japanese during summit; he would also like to see normalization of US-North Korea relations
U. S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would invite North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the United States if the upcoming summit with Kim went well. On the other hand, he said he was also prepared to walk away from the summit.
Trump held a two-hour meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House on Thursday, less than a week before his summit with Kim in Singapore.
The summit with North Korea and trade were the focal points of the discussions. Abe sought reassurance from the United States that progress would be made on limiting North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. He also wanted Trump to discuss with Kim the issue of Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korea during the 1970s and 1980s.
At a post-meeting joint press conference, Trump promised Abe he would raise the abduction issue during his meeting with Kim.
„He [Abe] very much talked about abduction. It was preeminent in our conversations. He talked about it long and hard and passionately, and I will follow his wishes, and we will be discussing that with North Korea, absolutely,“ Trump affirmed.
Officially ending the war
Trump said he was open to signing an agreement on June 12 with North Korea to end the Korean War, but cautioned that it was just the first step.
„Sounds a little strange, but that’s probably the easy part. The hard part remains after that,“ Trump warned.
Trump also told reporters he would like to see the eventual normalization of relations between the United States and North Korea.
„Normalizing relations [with North Korea] is something I would expect to do, I would hope to do, when everything is complete.
