Trump Warns at G-7: North Korea Summit 'a One-Time Shot'
President Donald Trump said Saturday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has a “one-time shot” in their upcoming summit to establish peace between the two nations. Trump spoke during a press conference at the end of the G-7 summit in Charlevoix, Quebec.
“He has an opportunity the likes of which I think almost, if you look into history, very few people have ever had,” Trump said, according to Britain’s The Independent.
“He can take that nation with those great people and truly make it great, so it is a one-time shot, and I think it is going to work out very well,” the president said.
Trump said that it will not take long for him to know what Kim is about.
“Within the first minute I’ll know,” he said, Fox News reported.
“Just my touch, my feel, that’s what I do. How long will it take to figure out if they’re serious? I said maybe in the first minute. You know the way they say you know if you’re going to like somebody in the first five seconds, you ever hear that one?” Trump said, according to The Guardian.
He emphasized that he will not indulge in talks for the sale of talking.
“I think I’ll know pretty quickly whether or not, in my opinion, something positive will happen,” Trump said. “And if I think it won’t happen, I’m not going to waste my time. I don’t want to waste his time.”
The president’s truculence was tempered by optimism.
“I feel that Kim Jong Un wants to do something great for his people,” Trump said, according to CNN. “And he has that opportunity, and he won’t have that opportunity again.”
He said that the summit provides North Korea with a unique opportunity for its own development.
“We think North Korea will be a tremendous place in a very short period of time,” the president said.
Trump called Tuesday’s summit in Singapore a “mission of peace,” according to The Washington Post, later saying he was heading into “unknown territory in the truest sense.”
The president downplayed any qualms he might have about the summit.
“But I feel really confident. It’s never been done, It’s never been tested. So we are going in with a really positive spirit,” he said.
Even if no agreements come out of Tuesday’s meeting, the summit could be a start of something good, Trump said.
“At a minimum, I do believe, at least we’ll have met each other,” he said, adding, “Hopefully we will have liked each other.”
Trump did suggest at one point the summit might not be a success.
“But I’ve said it many times, who knows? Who knows? May not work out. There’s a good chance it won’t work out. There’s probably an even better chance that it will take a period of time, it’ll be a process,” he said.
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