Donald Trump offered North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a ride home on Air Force One after a summit in Hanoi two years ago, according to a new BBC documentary.

Kim and Trump first engaged in a war of words and mutual threats, before an extraordinary diplomatic bromance that featured headline-grabbing summits and a declaration of love by the former US president.

But no substantive progress was made, with the process deadlocked after the pair's meeting in Hanoi broke up over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return.

According to a BBC documentary, "Trump Takes on the World", the US president "stunned even the most seasoned diplomats" by offering Kim a lift home on Air Force One after the 2019 summit in Vietnam.

If Kim had accepted the offer, it would have put the North Korean leader -- and probably some of his entourage -- inside the US president's official aircraft and seen it enter North Korean airspace, raising multiple security issues.

In the event, Kim turned it down.

"President Trump offered Kim a lift home on Air Force One," Matthew Pottinger, the top Asia expert on Trump's National Security Council, told the BBC, it reported at the weekend.

"The president knew that Kim had arrived on a multi-day train ride through China into Hanoi and the president said: 'I can get you home in two hours if you want.' Kim declined."

For his first summit with Trump in Singapore in 2018, Kim hitched a ride on an Air China plane, with Beijing keen to keep North Korea -- whose existence as a buffer state keeps US troops in the South well away from China's borders -- firmly within its sphere of influence.

During the Singapore summit, Trump gave Kim a glimpse inside his presidential state car -- a $1.5 million Cadillac also known as "The Beast" -- in a show of their newly friendly rapport.

But last month Kim said the US was his nuclear-armed nation's "biggest enemy", adding that Washington's "policy against North Korea will never change" no matter "who is in power".

North Korean official media have yet to refer to Joe Biden -- who beat Trump in last year's election -- by name as US president.

cdl/slb/leg

AIR CHINA

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

North Korea stole $300m in crypto to fund nukes: UN experts
Seoul (AFP) Feb 10, 2021
North Korea has stolen more than $300 million worth of cryptocurrencies through cyberattacks in recent months to support its banned nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, a confidential UN report said. Compiled by a panel of experts monitoring sanctions on Pyongyang, the report said the country's "total theft of virtual assets from 2019 to November 2020 is valued at approximately $316.4 million", citing a UN member state. Financial institutions and exchanges were hacked to generate revenue fo ... read more