US President Donald Trump expressed regret for not taking steps before North Korea became effectively a nuclear-armed state, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Friday.
“(Trump said) it is regrettable that measures were not taken before North Korea effectively possessed nuclear weapons,” Lee said during a briefing on his trip to Europe.
Lee and Trump met during the gala dinner for the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France.
According to Lee, Trump also told him that he had posted the photograph of himself and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un taken during the 2018 US-North Korea summit in Singapore. Trump’s sharing of the photograph online on June 13 fanned speculation that the US president would turn his attention to North Korea.
“I told (Trump) that the North Korean nuclear issue should not be approached in the manner of approaching other countries,” Lee said.
“(Trump) agreed on the matter, but he was of the opinion that there wasn’t a clear answer (to the matter).”
cheesuk@heraldcorp.com
