Donald Trump said on Monday that he hoped to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Une on Monday, perhaps this year, during a meeting with the new South Korean president who had not started under the best auspices.
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A few hours before receiving it at the White House, the American president launched a charge as sudden as it is unexpected against Lee Jae-Myung, denouncing “a purge or a revolution” in South Korea, in reference it seems to police raids against churches.
But after a 40-minute meeting in the oval office, during which Lee Jae-Myung sang the praises of his host, Donald Trump softened. “I’m sure it’s a misunderstanding” because “there is a rumor circulating,” he said.
On the North Korean case, the American president estimated to be the same wavelength as his South Korean counterpart, a leader classified on the left who supports dialogue with the North.
Donald Trump, who had met Kim Jong one three times during his first mandate (2017-2021), said he had an excellent relationship with the North Korean leader and know him “almost better than anyone, apart from his sister”.
“At one point or another, I will see it. I can’t wait to see it, ”he said to the press, adding that we can take place this year.
He also said that North Korea, with nuclear weapons, had tested fewer missiles since returning to the White House on January 20.
A Trump Tower in Pyongyang
Donald Trump repeats envy to have ended six or seven wars in seven months – a disputed assertion -, but he did not often expressed himself on North Korea, despite the close relationship with Kim Jong one during his first mandate.
The two leaders were seen three times during historical summits: in Singapore on June 12, 2018, in Hanoi on February 28, 2019 and at the very end of June 2019, on the 1953 demilitarized armistice line, which the American president had symbolically taken to take a few steps on the North Korean soil.
President Trump said one day that the two men had “fallen in love” from each other, but their meetings produced no major advances.
Since then, North Korea has approached Russia, to whom it sent more than 10,000 soldiers and weapons for its war against Ukraine.
North Korea, which remains technically at war with the south since their conflict (1950-1953), continues to refuse to discuss the dismantling of its nuclear program.
Lee Jae-Myung, who criticized the American army in the past, hastened to flatter President Trump, declaring that he had made the United States “not a guarantor of peace, but a peacemaker.”
“I can’t wait to see you meeting President Kim Jong Une and seeing a Trump Tower in North Korea built and playing golf there,” he said.
Compensation for a military base
Lee Jae-Myung came to power in June, succeeding the conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, dismissed after trying to impose martial law.
The raids mentioned in Donald Trump’s message probably refer to surveys concerning Yoon Suk Yeol allies.
The American president, who often criticizes the costs incurred by the United States to ensure the safety of their allies, said he was determined to obtain better compensation for the 28,500 American soldiers stationed in South Korea.
He suggested that South Korea is giving up the land on which the American military bases are located in the country, an idea which should certainly arouse the indignation of the South Korean left.
“You know, we have spent a lot of money to build a base, and there was a contribution made by South Korea, but I would like to see if we can get rid of the lease and get the property of the land where we have an imposing military base,” he said.
Donald Trump also expressed himself bluntly on the very sensitive issue in South Korea of ”comfort women”, who had served as sex slaves to Japanese soldiers during the colonization of the Korean peninsula by Japan (1910-1945).
The South Korean left has often been very critical of the Japanese colonial past, even if Lee Jae-Myung went to Japan on Saturday, where he reaffirmed his attachment to the tripartite alliance with the United States.
