Washington DC [US], August 26 : In a bilateral meeting with the President of the Republic of Korea Lee Jae Myung, US President Donald Trump on Monday (local time) highlighted his engagement with North Korea and the progress made in inter-Korean relations.
Trump said, "Kim Jong Un and I have a very good relationship... If Hilary Clinton had won the election, it would have been a disaster. We think we can do something with regard to North and South Korea, and you are much more prone to doing that than other leaders from South Korea that I have been working with..."
He also recalled the 2018 Winter Olympics, noting, "I remember when you were doing the Olympics and there was a great time of hostility with North Korea, you were not selling tickets because nobody would want to be blown up in the stadium during the opening ceremony... Then I received a call from North Korea, stating they wanted to participate in the Olympics and actually field teams... Immediately, after that, you started selling tickets and it turned out to be a tremendous success..."
Trump highlighted that this success was acknowledged by former South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who credited him with playing a key role in making the 2018 Winter Olympic Games a triumph. Reflecting on that period, he also touched upon the ongoing North Korean nuclear threat, CNN reported.
"President Moon of South Korea said without Donald Trump the Olympics would have been a total failure," Trump said. "It's true, true. You know. Might as well say it."
He added, "It's a little hard to sell tickets when you think you're going to be nuked." CNN reported that these remarks came during a 2018 rally in Pennsylvania.
Speaking at the same rally, Trump also praised South Korea for doing "a great job" with the Olympic Games and highlighted the demonstration of unity between North and South Korea. "It was great to see North Korea going and participating," Trump said. "And there was a nice unity. It was really a nice thing," CNN noted.
Earlier, Trump and South Korea had announced that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had made a direct overture for talks between leaders of all three countries, a move seen as a potentially significant development in the ongoing nuclear standoff in the region, CNN reported.