Donald Trump has revealed plans to re-engage with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, whom he referred to as a smart guy. The former president's remarks come as nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain high, with past diplomatic efforts yet to yield lasting results.
In a Thursday interview, US President Donald Trump referred to Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader he has seen three times, as a "smart guy," and indicated that he will reach out to him again.
From 2017 until 2021, while in his last administration, the Republican met with the reclusive Kim and even went so far as to declare the two fell in love, establishing an unusual diplomatic connection.
Nevertheless, Marco Rubio, his own secretary of state, admitted at his confirmation hearing that the endeavor failed to provide a permanent deal to terminate North Korea's nuclear development.
In an interview with Fox News (via Reuters), Trump was asked whether he would try to get in touch with Kim again. Trump responded yes, adding that Kim liked him.
To defend itself against American and allied threats, including South Korea, North Korea claims it is pursuing nuclear weapons.
The Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953 and concluded in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, is still theoretically ongoing between the two Koreas.
The impoverished and isolated North Korea takes pride in its nuclear program, which it has flaunted through several tests and occasional missile firings from its ballistic arsenal.
The United Nations has issued numerous resolutions prohibiting North Korea's activities in the program, and Washington and others have voiced concerns that it is destabilizing.
Earlier this month, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate, Rubio called Kim a "dictator."
"I think there has to be an appetite for a very serious look at broader North Korean policies," Rubio stated.
Rubio urged action to stop North Korea from threatening war with Japan, South Korea, and themselves, and to find ways to avoid a nuclear arms race among other countries.
In his interview with Fox News, Trump brought up his failed effort to strike a weapons deal with Russia and China, two of North Korea's friends, at the conclusion of his first term in office.
According to sources from the time, the 2019 push would have aimed to get China to join an arms control pact and establish new restrictions for Russia's unregulated nuclear weapons.
"I was very close to having a deal. I would have made a deal with (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin on that, denuclearization... But we had a bad election that interrupted us," he said, talking about his 2020 defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.
Reports indicate that Pete Hegseth, who is being considered by Trump to head the Pentagon, recently made a speech before a Senate hearing in which he referred to North Korea as a nuclear power.
In response, the defense ministry of South Korea stated that it will cooperate with the United States in the denuclearization effort and that Pyongyang's nuclear status cannot be acknowledged, NDTV shares.
Some observers have speculated that Pyongyang may have been trying to convey a message to Trump by launching many short-range ballistic missiles in the days preceding up to his inauguration on January 20.
