President Trump, appearing beside President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea on Monday as the decades-old alliance between their two nations shows signs of strain, heaped praise on the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and stressed their positive relationship.
Appearing eager to insert himself into one of the thorniest issues in Korean politics, Mr. Trump repeatedly mentioned having a good rapport with Mr. Kim, said the North had “great potential” as a country, and at one point offered to arrange a meeting between Mr. Kim and Mr. Lee.
The remarks in the Oval Office were no surprise from a president who has often spoken admiringly of the world’s authoritarians, and who made a historic visit to meet with Mr. Kim in 2019.
But the context in which Mr. Trump made the comments — with Mr. Lee, the new president of South Korea, sitting next to him and saying nothing to object — was striking.
Only weeks ago, North Korea summarily rejected a series of efforts by Mr. Lee, who took office in June, seeking to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Kim Yo-jong, who speaks for her brother, Kim Jong-un, said in a statement carried in North Korean state media at the time that “no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it.”
Mr. Trump met with Mr. Lee in Washington for the first time as the relationship between their countries has been strained by the administration’s focus on China.
In and hour-long session in front of reporters, Mr. Trump talked up the alliance between the United States and South Korea. He said the U.S. was thinking about contracting ships from South Korea, and that in World War II, “we built a ship a day.” He predicted that era of industry would come back, he said, with South Korean investment in the United States as well.
But Mr. Trump repeatedly lingered on his relationship with Mr. Kim.
Over and over, Mr. Trump described them as getting along well and reminisced about his visit to see Mr. Kim, when the U.S. president took a symbolic walk across the demarcation line of the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea. Mr. Trump was the first sitting American president to do so. Before that meeting, he and Mr. Kim had taunted one another with insults and threats of attacks.
“I’d like to have a meeting,” Mr. Trump said of the chance for them to get together again. “I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong-un in the appropriate future.”
Maggie Haberman is a White House correspondent for The Times, reporting on President Trump.
The post Trump Repeatedly Praises North Korea’s Dictator in Meeting With South’s President appeared first on New York Times.
