Donald Trump offered North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a ride home on Air Force One after a summit in Hanoi two years ago, according to a new BBC documentary. (Photo by= AFP) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] Donald Trump offered North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a ride home on Air Force One after a summit in Hanoi two years ago, according to a new BBC documentary.
According to a BBC documentary, "Trump Takes on the World", the US president "stunned even the most seasoned diplomats" by offering Kim a lift home on Air Force One after the 2019 summit in Vietnam. If Kim had accepted the offer, it would put the North Korean leader - and probably some of his entourage - inside the US president's official aircraft and if it entered the North Korean airspace, raising multiple security issues. "The president knew that Kim had arrived on a multi-day train ride from China to Hanoi and the president said: 'I can get you home in two hours if you want.' Kim declined."
For his first summit with Trump in Singapore in 2018, Kim rode on an Air China plane, with Beijing keen to keep North Korea. Kim and Trump first engaged in a war of words and mutual threats, before an extraordinary diplomatic bromance that featured headline-grabbing summits and a declaration of love by the former US president. But no substantive progress was made, with the process deadlocked after the pair's meeting in Hanoi broke up over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return.