Trump says he’s ‘open’ to meeting with N. Korean leader

US President Donald Trump would “certainly be open” to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, he says in an interview broadcast Sunday as he begins an extended Asian tour.

Asked by journalist Sharyl Attkisson, host of the “Full Measure” TV show, whether he would “ever consider sitting down with the dictator,” Trump says he is holding meetings with numerous Asian leaders.

“I would sit down with anybody,” he says. “I don’t think it’s strength or weakness, I think sitting down with people is not a bad thing. So I would certainly be open to doing that but we’ll see where it goes, I think we’re far too early.”

Trump’s conciliatory-sounding comment came after months of fiery rhetorical exchanges between the two leaders, prompted by a series of internationally condemned nuclear and missile tests by the North.

The North has denounced Trump as a “mentally deranged US dotard,” or senile old man, and the country’s ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun referred to him Sunday as “instable.”

Trump, for his part, has mocked Kim as “Little Rocket Man” and has vowed to rain “fire and fury” down on the North if it threatens the US or its allies.

— AFP