US President Donald Trump said Monday he hoped again to meet North Korea's leaders as he fired off an extraordinary attack against the South's leader hours before opening talks with him.
Trump, who met Kim Jong Un three times in his first term, hailed their relationship and that he knew him "better than anybody, almost, other than his sister."
"Someday I'll see him. I look forward to seeing him. He was very good with me," Trump told reporters.
Trump contended that North Korea has been firing fewer rockets since he returned to the White House on January 20.
Trump has boasted that he has solved seven wars in as many months back in the job -- a claim that is contested -- but has been quiet on North Korea despite the unusually personal diplomacy during his 2017-2021 tenure.
Trump once said that he and Kim "fell in love." Their meetings reduced tensions but failed to produce a lasting agreement.
Since then, Kim has forged a close relationship with Russia, including sending troops to fight against Ukraine, and has dug in on refusing any dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program.
Trump also raised doubts about potential talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, even as the US pushes for a negotiated peace in Ukraine.
At a press conference, when asked why Putin was unwilling to meet Zelensky, Trump replied, “Because he does not like him. He does not like him.”
The US President further confirmed that he had spoken to Putin after his meetings with Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House. “Every conversation I have with him is a good conversation. And then, unfortunately, a bomb is loaded up into Kyiv or someplace, and I get very angry about it,” he said.
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