Pyongyang [North Korea], October 26: Donald Trump is not scheduled to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un while in South Korea next week, a senior United States official has said, despite speculation about a meeting while the US president tours Asia.
"The president, of course, has expressed his willingness to meet with Kim Jong Un in the future. It is not on the schedule for this trip," the senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters in a call on Friday.
Speaking to reporters before departing for Asia late on Friday night, President Trump said he would like to meet Kim, but he was not sure if it would happen. "He knows I'm going there," Trump said, referring to the North Korean leader.
Speaking later aboard Air Force One regarding a possible meeting with Kim, Trump said: "I'd be open 100 percent. I get along very well with Kim Jong Un." South Korea's unification minister had said earlier on Friday that he believed there was a "considerable" chance that Trump would meet Kim while he is in the South Korean city of Gyeongju for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum.
North Korea appears "to be paying attention to the United States, and various signs . suggest a considerable possibility of a meeting", Unification Minister Chung Dong-young told reporters, before urging the two leaders not to let the opportunity "slip away".
"I don't want to miss even a one percent chance," said Chung, whose ministry handles Seoul's fraught relations with Pyongyang. Trump will be meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping before he returns to the US from his multi-day visit to Southeast Asia.
Trump began his trip in Malaysia on Saturday.
Source: Qatar Tribune
