President Trump said Wednesday that Chinese leader Xi Jinping notified him that his surprise summit with Kim Jong Un was a success — and that the North Korean despot is looking forward to meeting him.
“Received message last night from XI JINPING of China that his meeting with KIM JONG UN went very well and that KIM looks forward to his meeting with me,” Trump said in an early morning tweet.
“In the meantime, and unfortunately, maximum sanctions and pressure must be maintained at all cost!” he added.
The president said in a separate tweet that his administration may be able to pull off what many previous ones have viewed as impossible.
“For years and through many administrations, everyone said that peace and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was not even a small possibility,” he wrote.
“Now there is a good chance that Kim Jong Un will do what is right for his people and for humanity. Look forward to our meeting!” he said.
Trump’s tweets followed the confirmation of reports that Kim had taken his mysterious train for a quick trip to Beijing, where he was given a lavish welcome by Xi during his first trip outside his country since taking power in 2011.
Kim’s secretive talks with Xi appear to have been aimed at improving both countries’ positions ahead of the North Korean leader’s expected meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Trump in the coming weeks.
A key objective for Beijing is to re-establish its relevance to the talks, from which it has been excluded.
China has appeared increasingly shut out as its relations with North Korea frayed and Pyongyang reached out to Seoul and Washington.
China has supported stricter UN sanctions on North Korea and suspended coal and iron ore imports. Last year, Pyongyang apparently sought to humiliate Beijing by timing some of its missile tests around major global summits in China.
Kim made the visit to China at Xi’s invitation, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency.
The trip ran from Sunday to Wednesday but appeared to include travel time from Pyongyang on the slow-moving armored train, which secretly arrived in Beijing on Monday and left Tuesday afternoon.
Rumors of Kim’s presence began swirling Monday night, with the spotting of his special train, Chinese security teams and official delegations at the border city of Dandong and various parts of Beijing.
With Post wires
