Donald Trump says he would hold direct talks with North Korea's Kim Jong Un

Donald Trump is open to meeting with Kim Jong Un

(Image credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

In 2002, George W. Bush declared Iran, Iraq, and North Korea the "Axis of Evil." He then invaded Iraq, replacing its government. President Obama negotiated a nuclear deal with Iran. And on Tuesday, Donald Trump told Reuters that, if elected, he would hold direct talks with the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un over its nuclear arms program. "I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him," Trump said. He added that he would "absolutely" try to talk some sense into Kim, and also "put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China ... China can solve that problem with one meeting or one phone call."

Direct talks with North Korea's leader would be a shift of U.S. policy, and Hillary Clinton's foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan saw some irony in Trump's proposal, given his forecast a day earlier that he wouldn't "have a very good relationship" with British Prime Minister David Cameron. "Let me get this straight: Donald Trump insults the leader of our closest ally, then turns around and says he'd love to talk to Kim Jong Un?" Sullivan said in a statement. Trump "seems to have a bizarre fascination with foreign strongmen like Putin and Kim." (Trump told Reuters he's "sure I'll have a good relationship" with Cameron.)

In the 30-minute interview, Trump also said he is "not a big fan" of the Paris climate change agreement, saying he would "be looking at that very, very seriously, and at a minimum I will be renegotiating those agreements, at a minimum. And at a maximum I may do something else." He also said that he will release a detailed plan in two weeks to dismantle the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, because "Dodd-Frank is a very negative force, which has developed a very bad name."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.