President Trump said Friday that the U.S. had narrowed potential locations for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to “two or three sites” in two countries.
“Hopefully we’re going to have great success,” Trump told reporters at the White House, a day after Kim met with South Korea’s president.
“The relationships are building and building strongly,” Trump said. “This will be a great thing for the world.”
Trump did not say what sites are under consideration, but his remark indicates planning developments. Earlier this month, he said there were five potential sites.
Trump commented on the number of sites during an Oval Office pool spray. Later, at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he said the sites were in two countries.
Trump accepted Kim’s invitation to meet in March, following a turbulent year of personal insults and weapon tests. Few details are publicly known about planning, but the White House says Trump would like the meeting to happen in May or early June.
Then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo visited North Korea during Easter weekend to discuss the summit with Kim. Pompeo was confirmed this week as secretary of state.
Trump told reporters Friday he believes Kim wants to improve relations. “I don’t think he’s playing,” he said in the Oval Office, repeating his threat to leave a meeting with Kim if there’s no progress toward disarming North Korea of its nuclear weapons. He said he was grateful to Chinese President Xi Jinping for being “extremely helpful to me at the border.”
“The United States in the past was played like a fiddle … that’s not happening with us,” Trump said, adding if there’s no progress “we leave the room with great respect.”
“This isn’t like past administrations, we don’t play games,” Trump said.
