President Donald Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House Friday and said the U.S. will have relations with the North Korean regime of dictator Kim Jong Un.
“We will have relations with North Korea, with Kim Jong Un. I get along with them very well,” Trump told reporters alongside Ishiba.
Trump, who first met Kim in 2018 in Singapore and became the first sitting president to meet with the leader of North Korea, is looking to build off his personal diplomacy he established with Kim during his first term.
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“We had a good relationship. And I think it’s a very big asset for everybody that I do get along with them,” the president said.
Trump met Kim again in 2019 and became the first president to step foot inside North Korean territory from the demilitarized zone.
Trump said Japan would welcome renewed dialogue with North Korea because relations between Japan and North Korea remain tense since diplomatic relations have never been established.
“And I can tell you that Japan likes the idea because their relationship is not very good with him,” Trump said.
Ishiba said it’s a positive development Trump and Kim met during Trump’s first term. And now that he has returned to power, the U.S., Japan and its allies can move toward resolving issues with North Korea, including denuclearization.
“Japan and U.S. will work together toward the complete denuclearization of North Korea,” Ishiba added.
Prime Minister Ishiba also addressed a grievance involving the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. Although North Korea released some of the prisoners in the early 2000s, Pyongyang never provided Japan with any explanation for the abduction of its citizens, and there can be no normalization of relations between Japan and North Korea until the issue is resolved.
“And so our time is limited,” Ishiba warned.
“So, I don’t know if the president of the United States, if President Trump is able to resolve this issue. We do understand that it’s a Japan issue, first and foremost. Having said that, we would love to continue to cooperate with them,” the prime minister added.
