tirsdag 23. februar 2021

Trump offered Kim Jong Un a ride home on Air Force One following Vietnam summit, source says

Then-President Donald Trump in 2019 offered North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a ride home on Air Force One following their Vietnam summit, a former senior administration official who was on the trip confirmed to CNN. The former official said Trump did not ask any of his aides whether there would be any problems in making such an offer. "Just did it for his friend," the former official said, referring to Trump's warm relationship with Kim. The BBC was the first to report the story.

Matthew Pottinger, the top Asia expert on Trump's National Security Council, told the BBC, "President Trump offered Kim a lift home on Air Force One. The president knew that Kim had arrived on a multi-day train ride through China into Hanoi and the president said: 'I can get you home in two hours if you want.' Kim declined."

The stunning offer made to a brutal dictator came as Trump ended the Hanoi summit with no joint agreement, after Kim insisted all US sanctions on his country be lifted. That was a bridge too far for Trump, who said at the time that Kim had offered to take some steps toward dismantling his nuclear arsenal but not enough to warrant ending the debilitating sanctions regime on the country.