Trump Open to Meeting North Korea’s Kim Jong Un

Says It's 'Far Too Early' for Such Talks, However

In one of the first interviews of his high-profile tour of the Pacific to talk about the possibility of a war with North Korea, President Trump said he would “certainly be open” to meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, saying he never thought sitting down with people would be a bad thing.

Trump added that while he was willing “we’ll see where it goes, I think we’re far too early” for such talks. These comments stand in stark contrast with Trump’s other comments on North Korea, both in the lead up to the tour and in general over the past several months.

After all, the whole point of this tour was to explain that the world is “running out of time” on North Korea, and that doesn’t really reconcile easily with Trump’s claim that it’s “far too early” for direct talks.

On top of that, while the US has been quietly engaged in direct talks with North Korea for months, President Trump has long mocked the idea of diplomacy with North Korea as a “waste of time.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.