trump talk
CIA director Mike Pompeo ‘met Kim Jong-un in secret’ as Donald Trump confirms direct talks with North Korea at ‘extremely high levels’
PRESIDENT Donald Trump revealed tonight top US officials have been holding direct talks with North Korea "at extremely high levels" to arrange a weapons summit between him and Kim Jong-un.
Unconfirmed reports from the US claim CIA Director Pompeo met with the North Korean leader over the Easter weekend.
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"We've also started talking to North Korea directly," he said at a photo session with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the American leader's retreat in Mar-a-Lago.
"We have had direct talks at very high levels, extremely high levels, with North Korea. And I really believe this allows good will, that good things are happening," said the President.
"We'll see what happens, as they always say, we'll see what happens, because ultimately it's the end result that counts, not the fact that we're thinking about having a meeting or having a meeting."
Trump also said he’s given South Korea his “blessing” to negotiate a peace deal with North Korea, and that five locations are under consideration for his meeting with Kim.
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“They do have my blessing to discuss the end to the war,” Trump said. South Korea never formally ended its war with North Korea, though the armed conflict ended with a cease-fire in 1953.
Trump suggested he was responsible not only for the negotiations on a formal peace treaty ending the war but also the success of this year’s winter Olympics in South Korea.
“They’ve been very generous that without us and without me in particular, I guess, they wouldn’t be discussing anything and the Olympics would have been a failure,” Trump said.
“As you know North Korea participated in the Olympics and it was really quite an Olympics. It was quite a success. That would not have happened.”
Trump said he will meet with Kim in “early June or before that assuming things go well.”
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“It’s possible things won’t go well and we won’t have the meetings and we’ll just continue to go on this very strong path we have taken,” Trump said.
The US, Japan and South Korea have forged an alliance to get Kim to abandon his controversial nuclear weapons programme.
Abe is expected to press Trump during their summit for a sense of what he hopes to accomplish when he finally meets up with the North Korean despot.
“Japan and ourselves are locked and we are very unified on the subject of North Korea,” Trump said.
Abe earlier commended Trump's "courage" in agreeing to meet trigger-happy Kim.
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He was speaking at the start of a visit to Mr Trump at his retreat in Florida, where the two men are also expected to discuss trade.
"Japan and ourselves are locked and we are very unified on the subject of North Korea," Mr Trump said.
"We will probably be, depending on various meetings and conversations, we'll be having meetings with Kim Jong-un very soon. It'll be taking place probably in early June or a little before that."
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