FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump told Bloomberg News on Monday [5-1-17] that he’d be ‘honored’ to talk to Kim Jong-un, and while it’s not the first time he’s signaled a willingness to meet with perhaps the world’s most brutal dictator — it may provide an important glance into his North Korea strategy.
Several top Trump administration officials have repeatedly stressed an ‘all options’ approach to North Korea, at different times emphasizing military action, collaboration with China for harsher sanctions, playing coy about cyber sabotaging its missile program, and now, finally, direct talks.
While Trump has been quick to condemn North Korea’s military provocations, and not shied away from the prospect of conflict, he has at times had generally nice things to say about the country’s leader.
‘Not many 27-year-old men could go in and take over a regime … say what you want, but that’s not easy — especially at that age,’ Trump said in a past interview with Reuters. In another interview with CBS’ ‘Face the Nation,’ Trump called Kim a ‘pretty smart cookie.’ “
-Alex Lockie, “The Trump administration just signaled it may take the only action that could actually stop North Korea,” Business Insider, May 1, 2017 1:11pm