Donald Trump hopes to meet Kim Jong-un early next year
United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday expressed hope that he would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "sometime early next year."
Addressing a press conference in the White House, Trump said that his administration is ready to lift the sanctions on North Korea, but asserted that Pyongyang has to be "responsive" to Washington.
"We are very happy how it's going with North Korea. We think it is going fine. We are in no rush. The sanctions are on. I'd love to take the sanctions off, but they (North Korea) have to be responsive to us. The missiles have stopped and the rockets have stopped. The hostages are home," he elaborated.
Talking about his first meeting with Kim at Singapore in June, the US president asserted that the two countries made "more progress" in the last four to five months.
"We made more progress in the last four to five months in Singapore, than they made in 70 years. And nobody else could've done what I have done. We are in no rush. I'd like to take the sanctions off. It will happen sometime early next year," Trump added.
Last month, Trump had said that he was planning to meet the North Korean leader after the midterm polls.
During their unprecedented first meeting, Trump and Kim had signed a joint declaration, wherein the two leaders agreed to work towards achieving "complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula", in exchange of Pyongyang's "security guarantees" from Washington.
Commenting on the results of the midterm elections, Trump said, "Last night, the Republican Party defied history to expand our Republican majority. We (beat) expectations in the House."
He added that the Republicans had "dramatically outperformed historical precedence," despite what he called a "very dramatic fundraising disadvantage" and "very hostile media coverage, to put it mildly," CNN reported.
Giving a stern warning to the Democrats, the US President reminded them of the consequences of focussing on investigating his administration. However, Trump predicted that he would be politically benefitted if the Democrats did spend their time on probing his government's activities.
"I think I'm better at that game than they are," he chuckled.
Trump lauded lawmakers, who supported his policies and won seats in the midterm polls, while lashing out at others, for backstabbing him.
He launched a sharp attack on Mia Love, a Republican from Utah, for "pulling away from him", asserting that this led to her defeat in the elections. "Mia love gave me no love and she lost. Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia," Trump said.
-ANI
