Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un: how about a burger?

Posted on : 2016-06-17 15:31 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Presumptive Republican candidate touts his ability to “make deals”, but says Kim wouldn’t get a state dinner
Donald Trump during a campaign appearance in Atlanta
Donald Trump during a campaign appearance in Atlanta

Donald Trump stated his willingness to talk nukes with Kim Jong-un “over a burger” if the North Korean leader visits the US.

The claim by the presumptive Republican Party nominee in November’s US presidential election is being seen as his rebuttal to presumptive Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton, who attacked his comments a month before about potentially having dialogue with Kim as amateurish.

“If he came here, I would accept him, But I wouldn't give him a state dinner,” Trump said of Kim during an hour-long campaign speech on foreign affairs and national security on June 15 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.

“We should be eating a hamburger on a conference table,” Trump continued.

“Who the hell wants him to have nukes?” he added, insisting that he would make “better deals.”

But Trump also rated his own chances of success with Kim as low.

“There's a 10% or 20% chance I could talk him out of having his damn nukes,” he said.

He went on to insist that he would not go to North Korea himself.

Trump went on Twitter the same day to respond to growing criticisms of the US’s lax gun laws in the wake of the recent nightclub shooting in Orlando.

“I will be meeting with the NRA [National Rifle Association], who has endorsed me, about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no fly list, to buy guns,” he wrote.

The NRA responded by saying its “position on this issue has not changed. The NRA believes that terrorists should not be allowed to purchase or possess firearms.”

At the same time, the organization also clarified that it is opposed to bans on firearm sales to all people on watch lists, hinting at growing cracks with Trump after the Orlando tragedy.

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

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