President Donald Trump said he would be willing to extend his current trip to Asia if North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un expresses interest in meeting.
Trump told reporters during a gaggle aboard Air Force One:
“But I’d love to meet with him if he’d like to meet.
“I got along great with Kim Jong Un.
“I liked him; he liked me.”
When asked whether he would lengthen his overseas travel schedule to accommodate a meeting, Trump confirmed that he would be open to the idea.
The president had previously made similar comments during an earlier exchange with reporters.
He has long emphasized his past relationship with the North Korean leader.
“I got along very well with him,” Trump said.
North Korea remains one of the few nations in the world known to possess nuclear weapons.
Tensions surrounding the rogue nation’s weapons program have periodically drawn international attention.
During his first term, Trump met with Kim Jong Un multiple times.
Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to step inside North Korea.
The moment drew global headlines and symbolized a rare moment of diplomatic engagement between Washington and Pyongyang.
The president’s journey to Asia began in late October.
The trip spans key stops in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Tokyo (Japan), and Busan (South Korea), and is being framed as a major diplomatic push on trade, security, and regional geopolitics.
The trip comes amid soaring tension with Communist China, North Korea’s missile tests, and broader questions about U.S. global leadership in the post-2024 era.
One of the trip’s headline moments is the bilateral meeting scheduled for October 30 in Busan between Trump and Xi Jinping, China’s leader.
According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the two leaders will tackle issues ranging from rare-earth mineral export controls to trade tariffs to broader strategic competition across the Indo-Pacific.
Meanwhile, ahead of that engagement, North Korea launched its first ballistic missile tests in five months.
The launch was a clear signal to Washington as the Asia tour kicks off.
In Malaysia, Trump played a visible role in a regional diplomatic moment during the signing of a ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia at the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.
The deal, known as the Kuala Lumpur Accord, positions the U.S. as a convening power in Southeast Asia and underscores Trump’s broader branding as a global peacemaker.
The significance of the tour is multifold: Trump is showcasing his Asia agenda in a way that emphasizes trade dominance, regional security, and personal diplomacy while also projecting strength on the global stage early in his second term.
Analysts say that the trip is as much about domestic politics and his “America First” narrative as it is about foreign policy.
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