Trump says North Korea stand-off ‘largely solved’ after he gave Kim his telephone number
‘I gave him a very direct number,’ says Trump about the North Korean leader. ‘He can now call me if he has any difficulty’
US President Donald Trump declared Washington’s nuclear stand-off with Pyongyang “largely solved” on Friday, after he gave Noth Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un his telephone number and cancelled US “war games”.
Hailing the success of this week’s summit in Singapore, Trump told reporters in Washington that he is now in direct contact with Kim and that their “good relationship” had ended the risk of conflict.
The results of the Singapore meeting, at which Kim and Trump signed a pledge “to work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”, have been greeted with scepticism by many observers.
And Trump’s unilateral decision to reduce tension by cancelling “provocative” joint exercises by US and South Korean forces appeared to catch both close ally Seoul and some Pentagon officials by surprise.
But Trump recalled that when he came to office last year his predecessor Barack Obama had warned that North Korea’s growing missile and nuclear threat was the United States “most dangerous problem”.
“I have solved that problem,” Trump told reporters after a spontaneous visit to a television crew working on the White House lawn.
“Now we’re getting it memorialised and all, but that problem is largely solved.