Trump-Kim summit: president says US 'will be stopping the war games' – live
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Version 17 of 37. Trump ends the press conference by saying the summit has been a very important event in world history. “But I want to get it completed, because if we don’t get the ball over the goal line, it doesn’t mean enough,” he says. Trump says he now needs a rest but will get back to work soon. China is a great country, with a great leader, Trump says. He may be calling President Xi before he lands back in the US, Trump says. Asked about South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, Trump says: “He’s a very, very fine gentleman, also a friend of mine. He’ll be very happy. I’ve already sent word to him about what happened.” Do you see Kim as an equal? Trump is asked. “I don’t view it that way. I will do whatever it takes to make the world a safer place,” he says. He adds: “If I have to say I’m sitting on a stage with Chairman Kim and that’s going to get us to save 30 million lives, maybe more than that, I’m willing to sit on the stage, I’m willing to travel to Singapore very gladly.” They have given a tremendous amount, Trump says, citing North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics in South Korea. “Add that to the list of things that they’ve done,” he says. Asked if he was concerned that the video Trump presented at the press conference will be used by Kim as propaganda, Trump says: “No, I’m not concerned.” Asked about the size of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, Trump says it is “very substantial”. “We have pretty good intelligence … to know it is pretty substantial,” he says. But he insists North Korea could denuclearise very quickly. Trump says the summit has achieved more than he hoped. He says he only brought up the issue of the remains of prisoners of war at the very end of the meeting. It was “great” that Kim agreed to handing over the remains. He adds: “We’re probably going to need another summit.” On China’s role in the denuclearisation process, Trump downplays Beijing’s role. “We’re working with South Korea, Japan. We’re working with China … to a lesser extent, but we’re working with China,” he said. “From the beginning we got along,” Trump says of his meeting with Kim. Trump had previously boasted that he would know whether he could make a deal with Kim in the first seconds. Asked about the comment, Trump said: “You know in the first second. OK sometimes that doesn’t work out, but sometimes it does.” “I know when somebody wants to deal ... I just feel, my instinct, my talent,” he says. “I think he wants to make a deal. We will know very soon because the negotiations are continuing,” Trump adds. He claims 100,000 people in North Korea gulags will be one of the great winners from the summit. Trump insists that he had very good meeting at the G7 over the weekend. But he adds: “I’ll be honest we are being taken advantage of by virtually every one of those countries.” He claims the US has a trade deficit close to $100bn with Canada. He admits that he “didn’t look friendly” in a photograph of him looking at Angela Merkel at the summit. But he insists it was friendly. The leaders were waiting for the text of the communique at the time, he says. “Actually we were just talking, the whole group, about something, unrelated to anything.” I have a good relationship with Justin. I have a good relationship with Merkel, but Germany are paying 1% of GDP towards Nato, he says. Trump says more details will be provided about the destruction of North Korea’s missile engine test sites. He says he had 300 “very big and powerful” sanctions ready last week but held off ahead of the summit because imposing them would have been “disrespectful”. We have gotten a lot from the summit, Trump insists. North Korea has already demonstrated its commitment by destroying a testing site, Trump claims. Asked why he didn’t get a commitment to complete verifiable, irreversible denuclearisation or CVID, Trump says there wasn’t time. “I’m here for one day. The process is now going to take place,” Trump says. Asked more about war games, Trump says they are very expensive, and the US pays for the majority of them. He points out that planes have to fly six and half hours from Guam to take part. “I know a lot about airplanes, and it’s very expensive,” he says. The war games are very provocative. It is inappropriate to be having war games, Trump says. Asked about sanctions, Trump said he looked forward to lifting them. “The sanctions will come off when we are sure the nukes are no longer a factor,” he said. Asked about the timeline, he said denuclearisation “takes a long time scientifically”. Trump insists that he and Kim discussed human rights at length. “We did discuss it today, pretty strongly … We’ll be doing something on it. It’s rough in a lot of places,” he said. Trump says he would like to travel to Pyongyang at the appropriate time and will invite Kim to the White House “at the appropriate time”. |