- President Donald Trump said he would “remain flexible” in upcoming talks with North Korea, leaving open the possibility that he would scrap the summit with leader Kim Jong Un, if necessary.
- Trump said that “if we don’t think that it’s going to be successful … we won’t have it.”
- The president also floated the possibility of leaving Kim during the summit, if it comes to that.
President Donald Trump said he was going to “remain flexible” and left open the possibility of shelving highly anticipated talks between the US and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“We’ve never been in a position like this with that regime,” Trump said during a joint press conference with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday. “I hope to have a very successful meeting. If we don’t think that it’s going to be successful … we won’t have it. We won’t have it.”
Trump went further, and floated the possibility of leaving Kim during the summit.
“If the meeting when I’m there is not fruitful, I will respectfully leave the meeting,” he said.
The exact location and date of the proposed Trump-Kim summit is not yet clear, but Trump reportedly said it could happen by early June. The president said five locations were being considered, but added that the US is not one of them.
US officials confirmed that CIA director Mike Pompeo made a secret trip to North Korea during Easter weekend to meet with Kim. Pompeo visited the country as part of Trump's advance envoy to lay the groundwork for the proposed summit, during which the two leaders are expected to discuss the regime's nuclear weapons program.
"I like always remaining flexible," Trump said. "And we'll remain flexible here. I've gotten it to this point."