Donald Trump says there’s a good chance Kim Jong-un will do ‘what is right’

AS Kim Jong-un wraps up an historic visit to China, US President Donald Trump says the North Korean leader will “do what’s right for humanity” in moves towards peace.

Donald Trump is “looking forward” to his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Picture: AP/Evan Vucci, Wong Maye-E

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday there’s “a good chance” that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will “do what is right for his people and for humanity” and make moves toward peace.

In a pair of morning tweets, Mr Trump says he received a message from Chinese President Xi Jinping that a meeting Xi had with Kim this week “went very well”.

Mr Trump said that according to Xi, the North Korean leader “looks forward” to meeting the American president. The White House has said Mr Trump plans to meet Kim by May amid nuclear tensions between the two nations.

The White House has said Donald Trump plans to meet Kim Jong-un in May. Picture; AFP/Nicholas Kamm

Mr Trump has agreed to historic talks after South Korean officials relayed that Kim was committed to ridding the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons and was willing to halt nuclear and missile tests.

In the meantime, Mr Trump also wrote that “unfortunately, maximum sanctions and pressure must be maintained at all cost!”

For years and through many administrations, everyone said that peace and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was not even a small possibility. 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!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2018

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. In the meantime, and unfortunately, maximum sanctions and pressure must be maintained at all cost!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2018

The Trump administration has slapped sanctions on companies across the globe to punish illicit trade with North Korea. “For years and through many administrations, everyone said that peace and the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula was not even a small possibility,” Mr Trump tweeted. “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!”

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It comes as the North Korean leader was given a lavish welcome by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a secretive trip to Beijing as both sides try to repair frayed relations before Pyongyang’s landmark summits with Seoul and Washington.

On his first trip abroad since taking power, Kim and his wife were greeted by an honour guard and a banquet hosted by Xi, according to state media, which confirmed the “unofficial” visit on Wednesday only after Kim had returned by train to North Korea.

The two men held talks at the stately Great Hall of the People during which they hailed their nations’ historic relations, with Kim pledging he was “committed to denuclearisation” on the Korean peninsula, according to China’s Xinhua news agency.

Kim Jong-un meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Picture: AFP/KCNA via KNS

Kim also expressed willingness to hold the summits with Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, it said.

Kim told Xi there was “no question that my first foreign visit would be to the Chinese capital”, according to North Korea’s official KCNA news agency.

Kim Jong-un at a banquet in Beijing. Picture: AFP/KCNA via KNS

“This is my solemn duty as someone who should value and continue the DPRK-PRC (North Korea-China) relations through generations.” KCNA said Xi accepted an invitation to visit Pyongyang in what would be his first trip to the North Korean capital since he took power in 2012.

The two men had not met since Kim took over after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in December 2011. Relations have been strained as China has backed a series of tough UN sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile tests.

The historic meeting between the two leaders was all over the front pages of Chinese newspapers. Picture: AFP/Fred Dufour