Rudy Giuliani said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “begged” President Trump to hold the upcoming summit in Singapore after the president said last month it would be canceled.
During remarks at a conference in Israel and reported by the Wall Street Journal, Giuliani said Trump decided to call off the June 12 meeting because of derogatory comments top North Korean officials made about members of the Trump administration.
“Well, Kim Jong Un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in,” said Giuliani, now one of President Trump’s personal lawyers. He added that Kim came around after Trump decided he was “not going to have a summit” after North Korea’s harsh rhetoric.
“They also said they were going to nuclear war with us, they were going to defeat us in a nuclear war,” Giuliani said. “We said we’re not going to have a summit under those circumstances.”
Trump held a lengthy meting in the Oval Office on Friday with Kim Yong Chol, a top official in the Kim regime.
During the discussion, the two, joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, discussed denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and preconditions for sanctions relief for Pyongyang. Kim Yong Chol also hand-delivered a letter to Trump from Kim.
After the meeting, the president told reporters the June 12 meeting he canceled would go on as initially planned.
Trump and Kim will meet at 9 a.m. at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island, the White House said this week. In preparation for the historic summit, Trump has begun receiving daily briefings on North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile program.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Giuliani said he believes Pyongyang does want to give up its nuclear weapons, “but they do want probably much too long a timetable for that.”
