Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said on the 13th (local time) that he exchanged views for about 20 minutes with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on North Korea and other issues. In particular, Kim said, "President Trump said the timing of a meeting with North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairperson Kim Jong-un could be during this trip to China, or it could be afterward."
After meeting President Trump, Kim said at a roundtable with the Korean press corps held at the Korean Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., that day, "(President Trump) asked my opinion, saying he was curious whether Kim Jong-un wants dialogue with the United States."
Kim's meeting with President Trump that day was not on the schedule. Around noon, while meeting at the White House with Pastor Paula White, head of the Faith and Opportunity Initiative, Kim spoke with President Trump in the Oval Office (the president's office) at White's arrangement.
Kim said, "I told President Trump, 'President Lee Jae-myung always speaks about the president. He often says you are the only leader who can resolve the Korean Peninsula issue,' and President Trump showed interest in North Korea," adding, "He told an aide to bring the photo taken with North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairperson Kim Jong-un at Panmunjom and discussed it."
He continued, "President Trump asked my opinion, saying, 'I wonder whether Chairperson Kim wants dialogue with the United States or with me,'" and added, "I spoke about a few points on that."
However, Kim did not disclose what specific proposals he made to President Trump. Kim said, "I conveyed that it would be good to increase contacts and dialogue to keep even a small possibility alive; that North Korea's rhetoric has slightly advanced from the previous expression of 'no reason we can't meet' to something that seems to hint at normalizing relations, such as 'there is no reason our relationship must be bad' this time; and that at a minimum, the possibility of contacts and dialogue remains open."
He added, "It is hard to make public, but President Trump showed great interest."
Kim said, "President Trump instructed an aide to further assess a few points I made," but added, "It is not appropriate for me to say what and how he instructed before a head of state discloses it directly."
In particular, Kim said, "President Trump used the expression, 'It would be great to meet (the chairperson). But while that could be during this trip to China, it might not be, and it could be after that, couldn't it?'" He added, "That means the timing of the meeting is not the crux, and my proposal was not aimed at moving it up or tying it exactly to that time (Trump's visit to China)."
He continued, "Even if the timing is sooner, or if it is linked to the China visit, that in itself would be meaningful, but I think—and it seems firm—that what is essential is for dialogue or contact to proceed even if it is not necessarily then (during the China trip)."
Kim also said he plans to deliver a memo to President Trump. He said, "I asked President Trump if it would be fine to put the judgments and opinions I conveyed orally into a more detailed memo in English and deliver it before leaving the United States, and he told me to do so, so I plan to deliver it."
Along with this, Kim also released the content of conversations with those he met at the White House the previous day. On the 12th, he met with Vice President JD Vance and Jamieson Greer, head of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
Regarding Section 301 of the Trade Act, a pre-procedure for imposing tariffs that the USTR recently initiated against 16 economic actors including Korea, China, and Japan, Kim said, "Representative Greer clearly said it targets many countries broadly and is not specifically aimed at Korea."
Kim added, "Our government takes the position (regarding the Section 301 review) that first, the conditions should not be disadvantageous to Korea compared with other countries, but Representative Greer said that depending on the case, our position could even be more favorable than others, and suggested we work through this issue and communicate closely."