Kim Jong-un ‘begged for summit with Trump on his knees’

Rudy Giuliani claims Kim Jong-un got “on his hands and knees and begged” after Donald Trump cancelled their summit.

President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un got “on his hands and knees and begged” for their summit to be held after Mr Trump cancelled it last month.

Mr Giuliani counselled a similar approach to Trump administration negotiations with Palestinian officials in a future Middle East peace process.

Speaking at an investment conference in Israel hosted by the Globes newspaper, Mr Giuliani said Mr Trump cancelled the summit last month because senior North Korean officials insulted top Trump administration officials.

“They also said they were going to go to nuclear war with us, they were going to defeat us in a nuclear war,” Mr Giuliani said. “We said we’re not going to have a summit under those circumstances.” After Mr Trump cancelled the meeting, Mr Giuliani said: “Well, Kim Jong-un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in.” A man who answered the phone at North Korea’s United Nations office said no one was available to comment.

Rudy Giuliani outside the White House. Picture: AFP.

With the summit plans back in place the US has the upper hand, Mr Giuliani said.

It wasn’t clear whether Mr Giuliani was referring to a May 25 statement by a North Korean Foreign Ministry official or to other contacts between the US and North Korea. In the May 25 statement, foreign ministry official Kim Kye Gwan responded to the cancellation by saying: “We express our willingness to sit down face-to-face with the US and resolve issues anytime and in any format.” Mr Giuliani also said that North Korea does want to denuclearise, “but they do want probably much too long a timetable for that.” Mr Giuliani told the Israeli audience that a similar approach should be taken with the Palestinians in the decades-old conflict with Israel.

“That’s what needs to happen with the Palestinian Authority. They have to be seeking peace. You’ve got to change the dynamic and put the pressure on them,” he said.

Palestinian officials have refused to meet with the Trump administration since December, when Mr Trump declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel.

The presidential lawyer told Israeli reporters earlier this week he had seen the undisclosed Trump plan for Middle East, and said it makes “all the sense in the world,” but declined to provide any details.

Dow Jones