President Donald Trump asserted that he was approaching a meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un with due diligence, vowing to walk away from the meeting if it was not productive.
“If I think that it’s a meeting that is not going to be fruitful, we’re not going to go,” Trump said. “If the meeting, when I’m there, is not fruitful, I will respectfully leave the meeting.”
The president commented on the meeting during a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shizo Abe at his club at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump said that he liked to be “flexible” when making deals, but repeated that he had no problem walking away. He pointed to the success of his administration in pressuring North Korea to the point of negotiation talks and their decision to remain peaceful during the Olympics.
The president thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for putting additional pressure on North Korea to come to the negotiating table.
“He has been terrific,” Trump said. “Can he be better? I always say yes.”
Trump predicted that the meeting would take place in June or earlier, suggesting that they were currently looking at five different locations for the discussions.
He said that he would continue working to get North Korea to free United States citizens held captive, as well as Japanese citizens abducted by the regime.
Trump said that Prime Minister Abe was very passionate about the issue.
“We will try and bring those folks back home, very, very hard,” he said.