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Trump made the comment after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam.
In a series of tweets he also said Chinese President Xi Jinping
was "upping sanctions" on North Korea in response to its nuclear
and missile programs and that Xi wanted Pyongyang to
"denuclearize."
During Trump's visit to Beijing last week Xi reiterated that
China would strive for the denuclearization of the Korean
peninsula but offered no hint it would change tack on North
Korea, with which it fought side by side in the 1950-53 Korean
war against U.S.-led forces.
One of Trump's tweets read: "Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by
calling me 'old,' when I would NEVER call him 'short and fat?'
Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that
will happen!"
Speaking later in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, Trump said "it would
be very, very nice" if he and Kim became friends.
"That might be a strange thing to happen but it's a
possibility," he said.
INSULTS AND THREATS
Trump has traded insults and threats with Kim in the past amid
escalating tension over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs
as North Korea races toward its goal of developing a
nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States
-something Trump has vowed to prevent.
North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb
test on Sept. 3, prompting another round of U.N. sanctions.
In September Kim described Trump as a “mentally deranged U.S.
dotard" whom he would tame with fire. His comments came after
Trump threatened in his maiden United Nations address to
"totally destroy" the country of 26 million people if the United
States were threatened.
After North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho addressed the
U.N. General Assembly in September Trump tweeted: "Just heard
Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes
thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much
longer!”
North Korea has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests in
defiance of U.N. sanctions. It has vowed to never give up its
weapons programs, saying they are necessary to counter hostility
from the United States and its allies.
The United States has said that all options, including military,
are on the table, although its preference is for a diplomatic
solution.
(Reporting by Steve Holland in Hanoi and Mike Stone in
Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish and Clarence Fernandez)
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