Trump: ‘We Will Have Relations with North Korea and with Kim Jong Un’

COLLINS: “Mr. Prime Minister, you have just been meeting for the first time with President Trump. The last administration famously did not have hardly any, if at all, contact with North Korea. President Trump certainly did the last time he was in office. Would you like to see him resume that contact and also that in-person meeting that he had with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong UN?”

ISHIBA [via interpreter]: “That is something the the United States needs to determine on its own. And it‘s not something that we should request. Having said that, but — for example, in Vietnam or Singapore, the president of the United States, President Trump, was able to meet with Kim Jong UN. I think that‘s a very positive development. So, now that President Trump is in power again, if we are able to move towards resolving issues with North Korea, I think it would be great. And of course, for us, that‘s — that includes not only denuclearization but also resolving the abductee issue. And so, the — not only the victims of the abductees, but also their families too, are aging. And so, our time is limited. So, if the president of the United States, if President Trump is able to resolve this issue, we do understand that it‘s a Japan issue first and foremost. Having said that, we would love to continue to cooperate with them.”

Trump: “It’s actually a good question, and we will have relations with North Korea and with Kim Jong UN. I got along with him very well, as you know. I think I stopped a war. I think if I wouldn‘t have won that particular election, you would have ended up in a very bad, a very bad situation. But I did, and we had a good relationship. And I think it‘s a very big asset for everybody that I do get along with him. I like — I mean, I get along with him, he gets along with me and that‘s a good thing, not a bad thing. And I can tell you that Japan likes the idea because their relationship is not very good with him. And if I can have a relationship with not only him, but other people throughout the world where they seem to be difficult, I think that’s a tremendous asset for the world, not just the United States. Go ahead.”