PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Thank you very much.  It’s a great honor to have President Moon of South Korea with us and a very, very great privilege to have Mrs. Kim.  Thank you very much.  Very much.  We hope you enjoy your stay.

We are discussing many, many important things, including, obviously, North Korea, the relationships with North Korea.  I had, in many respects, a very good meeting.  We did not fulfill what we wanted to, but in many ways, we — certain things were agreed to.

My relationship is very good with, as you know, Chairman Kim.  And I think that it will go on that way.  We’ll see.  We’ll probably know.  But we’ll be discussing that.  We’ll be discussing trade, military, military purchases.  South Korea buys a great deal of equipment from us, especially military equipment.

(Speaks to interpreter.)  Please, go ahead.

We’ve just recently completed a new and very, very large trade deal with South Korea, and it’s just now going into effect.  And it will very much increase trade both ways between our two countries.  It’s a very important transaction and something we’ve been working on for quite a while.  I know that, for years, they’ve been working on trying to redo it.  And we have a new deal and it’s been, I think, very, very good for both our countries.  Big difference.

President Moon and South Korea have agreed to purchase a tremendous amount of our military equipment, from jet fighters to missiles, to lots of other things.  And we make the finest equipment in the world by far, and we appreciate the purchase.  It’s a very large purchase.  And we always appreciate that. close.  Our First Ladies, likewise — extremely close.  And I think that that will continue to for a long time into the future — forever.

So we’ll be having individual meetings later on and all throughout the day with different people from different departments and representatives.  The President and myself will be meeting right now in the Oval Office.  Then we’ll meet with our groups in the Cabinet Room, as you know.  And I think it’ll be very productive.  It’s going to be a very productive day.

I just do want to tell you that great progress has been made and a great relationship has been made in North Korea too.  Kim Jong Un has been, really, somebody that I’ve gotten to know very well and respect, and hopefully — and I really believe that, over a period of time, a lot of tremendous things will happen.

I think North Korea has a tremendous potential, and I believe that President Moon agrees with that.  And we will be discussing that and even potential meetings, further meetings, with North Korea and Kim Jong Un.

So I want to extend my warmest wishes to the people of South Korea, and I think indirectly I can truly say I want to extend my warmest wishes to Kim Jong Un and the people of North Korea.  I think the relationship has become far different and far better than it was when I first took office or at the end, certainly, of the Obama administration.

And it’s a great honor to be with you, Mr. President.  And thank you very much.

PRESIDENT MOON:  (As interpreted.)  Mr. President, I would like to thank you for inviting our couple to the White House and also warmly welcoming us.  In particular, last night at the Blue House, I saw the flowers — the beautiful flowers that you had sent — with a personally signed card.  I was really moved by your meticulous care, and especially my wife was moved.

In particular, I have two accounts on which I would like to express my gratitude to the United States.  First, recently, there was a big forest fire in Korea, in the province of Gangwon.  At the time, the USFK supported us through the provision of many helicopters, and this really helped us put out the fire.  And lots of Korean people were very grateful for this.

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Thank you.

PRESIDENT MOON:  (As interpreted.)  And today is a meaningful day for all the Korean people because it marks the centenary anniversary of the establishment of the provisional government of Korea.  And I heard that both at the Senate and at the House, they introduced a resolution celebrating this momentous day.  So I would like to thank you for that also.

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Thank you.

PRESIDENT MOON:  (As interpreted.)  And after you had met Chairman Kim in Singapore on June 12th, last year, we have witnessed a dramatic turnaround regarding the political situation on the Korean Peninsula.  Previously, because of the repeated nuclear and missile test from North Korea, we saw that the military tension at the time had been at its greatest, and we were in a very precarious situation.

However, since you met Chairman Kim and you initiated personal diplomacy with him, we saw the dramatic, significant reduction of military tension on the Korean Peninsula, and now peace has prevailed.

And also, in terms of North Korean nuclear problem, all Korean people have now — now we believe that you will be able to solve this problem through a dialogue.  So I have to say that this dramatic turnaround that we have witnessed is solely down to your strong leadership.

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT MOON:  (As interpreted.)  Well, in this sense, I believe that the Hanoi Summit is not actually — was not a source of disappointment, but it is actually the part of a bigger process that will lead us to a bigger agreement.

So the important task that I face right now is to maintain the momentum of dialogue and also express the positive outlook, regarding the third U.S.-North Korea Summit, to the international community that this will be held in the near future.

So, in this regard, I’d like to express my high regard for how you have continued to express your trust towards Chairman Kim.  And also, you have made sure that North Korea does not deviate from the dialogue track.  I would like to express my gratitude for this.

And let me reiterate that the Republic of Korea is absolutely on the same page when it comes to the end state of the complete denuclearization of North Korea.  And I can reassure you that we will remain in such great collaboration with the United States.  There will be no daylight until we achieve our ultimate goal.

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Thank you very much.  I have to go just one step further and I want to thank China, who’s really helped us a lot at the border.  I also want to thank Russia because they have helped us, and they’ve helped us quite a bit more than people think, at the border.  So both China and Russia have really been quite good.  That doesn’t mean they can’t get better, but they’ve been quite good at the border.  And I just want to thank both of those countries.

As we’ve said, a lot of progress has been made.  We will have further dialogue and I look forward to it.  My relationship with Kim Jong Un has been a very strong relationship.  I’ve had some very strong relationships with others, but I have a very, very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, and I think you see that.

And we’ll see what happens.  Hopefully, it will end up in a great solution for everybody, and ultimately a great solution for the world.  Because it is about the world.  It’s more than just this area.  It’s about the world.  And, frankly, the world is watching.

I want to thank you for your leadership.  Your leadership has been outstanding.  And I look forward to talking about other things also, and in particular, all of that equipment that you’re buying.  We like that in the United States.  We like that you buy our great equipment.  So again, thank you very much.  And thank you for your leadership.

Q    Mr. President, on economic projects for South Korea and North Korea, are you willing to allow some leeway in relaxing sanctions so that South Korea can pursue some more economic projects with North Korea?

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, we are discussing certain humanitarian things right now, and I’m okay with that, to be honest.  I think you have to be okay with that.  And South Korea is doing certain things to help out with food and various other things for North Korea.  And we’ll be discussing different things inside.

Again, the relationship is a much different relationship than it was two years ago — you remember what that was all about — and certainly during the Obama administration, where nuclear weapons were being tested often, where rockets and missiles were being sent up, in many cases, over Japan.  And we are in a much different situation right now.

So we’ll be discussing that very much, actually.

Q    Mr. President, do you still love WikiLeaks?

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I know nothing about WikiLeaks.  It’s not my thing.  And I know there is something having to do with Julian Assange.  I’ve been seeing what’s happened with Assange.  And that will be a determination, I would imagine, mostly by the Attorney General, who’s doing an excellent job.

So he’ll be making a determination.  I know nothing really about him.  It’s not my — it’s not my deal in life.

Q    What would you like to see happen?  What is it that your Attorney General —

    PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I don’t really have any opinion.  I know the Attorney General will be involved in that and he’ll make a decision, okay?

Q    Mr. President, are you pleased that your Attorney General yesterday said that there was spying into your campaign in 2016?

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Yes, I am.  I think what he said was absolutely true.  There was absolutely spying into my campaign.  I’ll go a step further: In my opinion, it was illegal spying, unprecedented spying, and something that should never be allowed to happen in our country again.  And I think his answer was actually a very accurate one.  And a lot of people saw that, and a lot of people understand — many, many people understand the situation and want to be open to that situation.  Hard to believe it could have happened, but it did.  There was spying in my campaign.  And his answer was a very accurate one.

Q    Mr. President, do you have the third summit with North Korea’s Chairman in mind?  And does that also include —

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  It could happen.  A third summit could happen.  And it’s step by step.  It’s not a fast process; I’ve never said it would be.  It’s step by step.

I enjoy the summits.  I enjoy being with the Chairman.  I think it’s been very productive.  And it really is — it’s a step by step.  It’s not going to go fast.  I’ve been telling you that for a long time.  If it goes fast, it’s not going to be the proper deal.

Q    Is a three-way summit with the leaders of the two Koreas also (inaudible)?

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, that could happen also.  I think that would be largely dependent on Chairman Kim, because President Moon will do what’s necessary.  I know President Moon has been fighting this battle for a long time.  He’s done an excellent job.  I consider him a great ally.

And a lot of good things are happening.  A lot of good things are happening in the world.  Our economy is the best it’s ever been.  Our employment numbers — unemployment and employment — are the best they’ve ever been.  We have more people working right now in the United States than we’ve ever had before — almost 160 million people.  And likewise, South Korea is doing very well.  Their economy is doing very well, and I think our trade deal has helped that process.

So, we’re sitting on two great countries right now, and we’re leading two great countries.  And we think that — I can speak for myself, and I think I can speak for President Moon: We think that North Korea has tremendous potential and, really, potential under the leadership of Kim Jong Un.  Let’s see how it all works out.

Q    Mr. President, have you communicated with Kim Jong Un in the last few weeks since you told us —

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I don’t want to comment on that.  But we have a very good relationship.

Q    Mr. President, on the Mueller report, are you concerned that Barr said that he’s not going to redact that report to protect your reputation?

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  No, I’m not concerned about anything because, frankly, there was no collusion and there was no obstruction.

And we never did anything wrong.  The people that did something wrong were the other side — the dirty cops.  And a lot of the problems that were caused, it’s a disgrace what happened.  And, again, it should never happen to a President again.  You’re just lucky I happen to be the President, because a lot of other Presidents would have reacted much differently than I reacted.  You’re very lucky I was the President during this scam — during the Russian hoax, as I call it.

So, no, I’m not concerned at all.  The bottom line: The result is no collusion, no obstruction.  And that’s the way it is.  And I know a lot of people were very disappointed, but they knew the real answer.

You know, when the Democrats go behind the scenes and they go into a room backstage and they sit and they talk, they laugh because they know it’s all a big scam, a big hoax.

And it’s called politics, but this is dirty politics and this is actually treason.  This is a very bad thing that people have done.  And I just hope that law enforcement takes it up.  Because if they don’t take it up, they’re doing a great disservice to our country.

Yes, go ahead.

Q    Yes.  Shared defense cost with South Korea — are you thinking a long-term agreement instead of year by year?

    PRESIDENT TRUMP:  No, we’re talking about long term, and we always talk about long term.  We want to have long term.  Our relationship South Korea is extraordinary, and we only think in terms of long term with South Korea.  Okay?

Q    (As interpreted.)  How much do you support my President’s push for economic concessions, which include the resumption of the joint inter-Korean industrial complex and perhaps even the (inaudible)?

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, at the right time, I would have great support.  This isn’t the right time.  But at the right time, I’d have great support with North Korea.  Great support.  I think that South Korea, and I think Japan, and I think that the U.S. — I think a lot of countries will be helping.  China, I really believe, will help.  I think that Russia will help.  I think a lot of countries will help.

When the right deal is made, and when the nuclear weapons are gone, I just think that North Korea has potential as great as anything I’ve ever seen in terms of potential.  They have an unbelievable location — surrounded by sea on two sides, and on the other side, Russia, China, and over here, South Korea.  You just can’t do better than that.  And they have magnificent land.  It has tremendous potential.

Q    (As interpreted.)  If North Korea actually submits a roadmap regarding complete denuclearization, are you two — are the two Presidents — will you be discussing this issue at the summit meeting today?

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Yes, we will.  We will be discussing it, certainly.  That’s a very prime topic for our meeting today.  And we hope that’s going to happen.

Yes?

Q    Is your position still that sanctions should stay in place on North Korea until there is denuclearization?  Or are you willing to consider easing sanctions to keep the talks going?

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  No, we want sanctions to remain in place.  And frankly, I had the option of significantly increasing them.  I didn’t want to do that because of my relationship with Kim Jong Un.  I did not want to do that.  I didn’t think it was necessary.  As you know, a couple of weeks ago, I held it back.  But I think that sanctions are, right now, at a level that’s a fair level.  And I really believe something very significant is going to happen.  We could always increase them, but I didn’t want to do that at this time.

Q    Mr. President, would you accept smaller deals to “keep the process going,” as President Moon called it?

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I’d have to see what the deal is.  There are various smaller deals that maybe could happen.  Things could happen.  You can work out, step by step, pieces.

But, at this moment, we’re talking about the big deal.  The big deal is we have to get rid of the nuclear weapons.

Thank you very much, everybody.  Thank you.

Q    Sir, a golf question: Who do you like in the Masters?  Who do you think will win the Masters?

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  You know, there are 15 players capable of winning.  And I guess you could say there are a lot more than that.  They’re great players.

I don’t think a field for the Masters has ever been this deep.  I was watching late last night, and they were going over the different players.  I think the field has never been so deep.

But always Phil and Tiger and Dustin.  I mean, you have so many great players.  But they were just saying they’re younger, they’re stronger, they’ve never hit the ball this long.  They’ve never hit the ball this accurately.  They’ve never putted better than they do now.

You know, the whole thing is pretty incredible.  But the field is very, very deep.  I think it’s going to be a great Masters.  I hope so.

Thank you very much, everybody.

END

12:45 P.M. EDT

FACT SHEETS

President Donald J. Trump Is Working Closely with
Our Ally and Friend the Republic of Korea

FOREIGN POLICY

Issued on: April 11, 2019

I know that the Republic of Korea, which has become a tremendously successful nation, will be a faithful ally of the United States very long into the future.

President Donald J. Trump

STRENGTHENING OUR VITAL ALLIANCE: President Donald J. Trump is welcoming President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea (ROK) to the White House.

President Trump and President Moon Jae-in will discuss a range of matters, including the latest developments regarding North Korea.

The ROK stands as one of the United States closest and most vital allies and friends.

Together, our two countries have built an ironclad alliance based on shared values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.

Our alliance remains the linchpin of peace and security not just on the Korean Peninsula, but across the region.

Under President Trump, the United States and the ROK have worked to further economic ties and jointly pursue peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Today’s visit will help strengthen the friendship and alliance between the United States and the ROK.

WORKING IN CLOSE COORDINATION: President Trump is working closely with President Moon to advance peace and denuclearize North Korea.

Under President Trump, coordination and cooperation between the United States and the ROK on North Korea are stronger than ever.

President Trump and President Moon have made clear that North Korea should follow through on its commitment to final, fully verified denuclearization.

The ROK has been a vital partner in developing negotiations with Chairman Kim Jong Un.

The United States and the ROK have been prepared to explore economic development options for North Korea should the right conditions be met.

IMPROVING OUR TRADING PARTNERSHIP: Trade and investment with the ROK have improved under President Trump’s leadership.

President Trump has worked diligently to improve and balance the trade relationship between the United States and the ROK.

Last year, President Trump and President Moon welcomed significant improvements to the United States–Korea Free Trade Agreement.

The updated deal secured key improvements that preserve and grow jobs in America’s auto industry.

The ROK is one of the United States closest trading partners, with more than $130 billion in two-way goods trade and nearly $37 billion in services in 2018 alone.

The goods and services trade deficit with the ROK dropped by more than 40 percent in 2018.

United States exports of autos, agricultural products, fuel, and chemicals to the ROK grew last year.

During President Trump’s visit in 2017, dozens of ROK companies announced billions of dollars in investment projects that created thousands of jobs in the United States, as well as planned purchases of American goods.

ROK firms have directly invested more than $50 billion in the United States, as of 2017.

Arirang News, April 11th,  2019:  The expectation is President Moon's latest trip to the White House will be similar to his last when the South Korean leader took the role of "mediator," providing fresh momentum for nuclear talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.

President Moon is back in the U.S. capitol for another crisis management session with Trump -- this time seeking to find a way for the U.S. and North Korea to give and take to achieve their stated goals of making a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula a reality.

During his brief stay in Washington, President Moon will also sit down separately with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence, all of whom like President Trump is strong proponents of North Korea's FFVD, meaning the regime's final, fully and verified denuclearization.

For Presidents Moon and Trump, their summit is the fulfilment of a promise made by President Trump shortly after the second North Korea-U.S. summit collapsed in February.

Trump's decision to pull the plug on that summit dealt a huge blow to President Moon who had staked enormous political capital on it being a success.

It's also a chance to reaffirm the strength of their alliance despite some mixed messages since the Hanoi summit,.. and perhaps time to find middle ground between Trump's 'all-or-nothing' strategy and Kim's 'small-deal' approach.

It remains to be seen if President Trump will be tempted by Seoul's proposal of North Korea steadily abandoning its nuclear weapons while the U.S. slowly eases sanctions as part of a gradual process towards complete denuclearization.

President Moon has said all along that he's on the "same page" as his American counterpart on the need to reach the 'end-state' of denuclearization.

"It's hoped President Moon's trip to Washington will set off a domino effect of rapid-fire summits between the relevant parties.

The Moon-Trump summit could be the spark for yet another inter-Korean summit and possibly even a third summit between leaders Kim Jong-un and President Trump, taking the peninsula a few steps closer to a complete denuclearization deal.

Shin Se-min, Arirang News, Washington."

Sources: White House, Arirang News, and Youtube
April 11, 2019 Rev. April, 14tg 2019

Catch4all.com, Sandra Englund

Arirang News dated March 31st, 2019: President Moon Jae-in has stressed the parties involved in the North Korea denuclearization talks are determined to continue their diplomatic efforts to find a solution despite the lack of progress at the recent Hanoi summit.

Speaking to his top aides on Monday, President Moon said he and U.S. President Donald Trump will discuss ways at their upcoming summit to get Washington and Pyeongyang back to the table at an early date.

He said the focus is on going forward, not backwards.

Take a listen.

"We will never go back to the past, and we cannot go back. I will seek ways with President Trump for the people of Korea and the world who desire peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. If the path is blocked, we will pierce through it, and if we need to build it, we will build that path.

He added the peace process is a journey to be taken by the two Koreas and the U.S.and it would be strange if there weren't ups and down along the way.

President Moon noted the countries have achieved much more in less than a year than anyone has over the past 70 years, referring back to the first inter-Korean summit in April last year.

President Moon is scheduled to hold summit talks with President Trump in Washington on April 11th, 2019.

--

According to DW Documentary: Dated March 30th, 2019: North Korea is one of the poorest countries in the world, but its leader Kim Jong Un has still found the money he needs to finance a nuclear weapons program, despite the country's fundamental poverty and international economic sanctions.

This documentary looks at how, and introduces the men who have helped Kim Jong Un keep his dreams of reaching nuclear power status alive. North Korea has not reined in its nuclear program, despite a number of UN resolutions that have tried to force it to do so. So how has the isolated country kept the program going despite sanctions? Every year Pyongyang sends millions of North Korean workers abroad, selling their services to over 40 countries around the world. And their salaries flow directly into Kim’s treasury. The only ones who know exactly how the system works are the men who have helped the North Korean government carry through the program for years. A film team spent years researching these men and their secrets - from bankers and diplomats to the laborers and specialists who worked abroad and whose wages flowed into the regime's coffers. Come and meet all the dictator’s men.

-----------------------------

Ariring News 3-17-2019: Shin Se-min reports. The presidential office's view of the 'no-deal' Hanoi Summit is that the parties involved in the denuclearization talks do all they can to avoid returning to square one.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity a high-ranking official at South Korea's top office said North Korea and the U.S. never want to go back to the days of conflict and confrontation as both have moved forward too much to return.

The official suggested a more practical solution to the nuclear talks saying one-stop denuclearization is an unrealistic goal.

The Blue House official said the 'All or Nothing' strategy needs to be reconsidered-- and called for North Korea and the U.S. to reach an agreement on their blueprint first and then move on to phased denuclearization.

The official also stressed there needs to be a roadmap that lays out how to achieve that goal.

Such a view, however, seems to be at odds with the Trump administration's "big deal" drive in the talks-- while the North has been pushing for a phased and simultaneous approach in giving up its nukes.

It's thought Seoul again plans to take on the role of mediator and a coordinator between North Korea and the U.S. while proposing to both sides what it sees as its own solutions.

The South Korean official's remarks come as uncertainty has grown over the past week after Pyeongyang appeared to suggest it might drop its talks with Washington after the Hanoi summit ended prematurely with no deal.

The official emphasized it's time for the two Koreas to talk, adding the ball is now in South Korea's court perhaps signaling that a fourth summit between President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un could happen soon to help break the impasse between Pyeongyang and Washington.

Arirang News Mar 3, 2019: Despite the sudden end of the Hanoi summit, South Korea and the U.S. remain commited in facilitating dialogue with North Korea for denuclearization and lasting peace.

To that effort, the two sides announced that their joint annual military exercises will be much reduced in scale moving forward.

Arirang News Won Jung-hwan reported that S. Korea-U.S. joint military exercises will be replaced with scaled-down new ones... to back diplomacy for denuclearization and long-lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

According to the two countries' defense authorities on Sunday,… Seoul and Washington have decided to revise their joint annual drills known as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle.

The decision was made after a 45-minute telephone conversation the day before,… between Seoul's Defense Minister, Jeong Kyeong-doo, and acting U.S. Defense Secretary (Acting), Patrick Shanahan.

It's a decision that reflects their will to maintain dialogue with Pyongyang, despite the breakdown in negotiations at the second North Korea-U.S. summit.

Following close coordination, both sides decided to introduce changes to the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises, which are held every springtime.

The command and control Key Resolve exercise could be replaced by a new drill named 'Dong Maeng,' which means alliance in English.

The nine-day simulated war games are scheduled to kick off on Monday.

The two nations will also downsize Foal Eagle's field drills to battalion-level maneuvers, and conduct smaller, but more frequent field training throughout the year.

Despite the reduction in scale,the allies pledged to maintain a high level of combat readiness through more missions-specific training programs. The two sides made it clear that their decision was in support of diplomatic efforts to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Last year, Seoul and Washington downsized a number of major joint exercises, including Ulchi Freedom Guardian and Vigilant Ace... in the midst of warming ties with North Korea.

White House:  On North Korea, President Trump held firm on America's terms:  Nothing short of progress toward complete, verifiable denuclearization will result in sanction relief.

"I think our relationship is very strong.  "President Trump said of Chairman Kim.  "I think, actually , It was a very productive two days.  But sometimes you have to walk, and this was just one of those times.  "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added that "we didn't get to [a deal] that ultimately made sense for the United State of America.....I hope we'll do so in the weeks ahead."

REMARKS

Remarks by President Trump in Press Conference | Hanoi, Vietnam

FOREIGN POLICY

Issued on: February 28, 2019

Hanoi, Vietnam

2:15 P.M. ICT

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you very much.  I want to begin by thanking the Prime Minister and President of Vietnam.  We’re in Hanoi.  It’s an incredible city.  What’s happened over the last 25 years has been incredible for the people of Vietnam, the job they’ve done — economic development.  Really something special.  So I want to thank all of the people of Vietnam for having treated us so well.

We have, I think, reasonably attractive news from Pakistan and India.  They’ve been going at it, and we’ve been involved in trying to have them stop.  And we have some reasonably decent news.  I think, hopefully, that’s going to be coming to an end.  It’s been going on for a long time — decades and decades.  There’s a lot of dislike, unfortunately.  So we’ve been in the middle, trying to help them both out and see if we can get some organization and some peace.  And I think, probably, that’s going to be happening.

We have — Venezuela, as you know, has been very much in the news, and we’re sending supplies.  Supplies are getting through a little bit more.  It’s not easy.  It’s hard to believe somebody would say “let’s not do it.”  What difference would that make, except it’s great for its people to let it get through.  But we’re sending a lot of supplies down to Venezuela.  People are starving to death, and you would really think that the man in charge, currently, would let those supplies get through.  We are getting them into some of the cities and some of the areas that need them the most.  And it’s not an easy job.  It’s very difficult, actually.

On North Korea, we just left Chairman Kim.  We had a really, I think, a very productive time.  We thought, and I thought, and Secretary Pompeo felt that it wasn’t a good thing to be signing anything.  I’m going to let Mike speak about it.

But we literally just left.  We spent pretty much all day with Kim Jong Un, who is — he’s quite a guy and quite a character.  And I think our relationship is very strong.  But at this time — we had some options, and at this time we decided not to do any of the options.  And we’ll see where that goes.

But it was a very interesting two days.  And I think, actually, it was a very productive two days.  But sometimes you have to walk, and this was just one of those times.  And I’ll let Mike speak to that for a couple of minutes, please.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Thank you, Mr. President.  We had been working, our teams — the team that I brought to bear, as well as the North Koreans — for weeks to try and develop a path forward so at the summit we could make a big step — a big step along the way towards what the two leaders had agreed to back in Singapore, in June of last year.

We made real progress.  And indeed we made even more progress when the two leaders met over the last 24, 36 hours.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get all the way.  We didn’t get to something that ultimately made sense for the United States of America.  I think Chairman Kim was hopeful that we would.  We asked him to do more.  He was unprepared to do that.  But I’m still optimistic.  I’m hopeful that the teams will get back together in the days and weeks ahead, and continue to work out what’s a very complex problem.

We have said, since the beginning, that this would take time.  Our teams have gotten to know each other better.  We know what the limits are.  We know where some of the challenges are.

And I think as we continue to work on this in the days and weeks ahead, we can make progress so that we can ultimately achieve what it is that the world wants, which is to denuclearize North Korea, to reduce risk for the American people and the people all around the world.

I wish we could have gotten a little bit further, but I’m very optimistic that the progress that we made — both in the run-up to this summit, as well as the progress that the two leaders made over these past two days — put us in position to get a really good outcome.

And the President and Chairman Kim both felt good that they had made that progress but couldn’t quite get along the line any further to make a deal that would have been bigger at this point.  I hope we’ll do so in the weeks ahead.

Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.

Q    Mr. President —

THE PRESIDENT:  All right, Major, please.

Q    Has this process been more difficult than you thought?  And was the North Korean demand for lifting of some sanctions the real sticking point here —

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.

Q    — in that you did not want to do that and they did?  And will there be —

THE PRESIDENT:  It was about the sanctions.

Q    Will there be a third summit, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT:  Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, and we couldn’t do that.  They were willing to denuke a large portion of the areas that we wanted, but we couldn’t give up all of the sanctions for that.

So we continue to work, and we’ll see.  But we had to walk away from that particular suggestion.  We had to walk away from that.

Q    Will all the sanctions that are currently in existence remain, sir?

THE PRESIDENT:  They’re in place.  You know, I was watching as a lot of you folks over the weeks have said, “Oh, we’ve given up.”  We haven’t given up anything.  And frankly, I think we’ll end up being very good friends with Chairman Kim and with North Korea, and I think they have tremendous potential.

I’ve been telling everybody: They have tremendous potential.  Unbelievable potential.  But we’re going to see.

But it was about sanctions.  I mean, they wanted sanctions lifted but they weren’t willing to do an area that we wanted.  They were willing to give us areas but not the ones we wanted.

John?

Q    As we know, I mean, there’s an incredibly complex set of issues that are at play here in terms of lifting the sanctions and what denuclearization is.

THE PRESIDENT:  Right.

Q    Did you get any distance toward sort of what Kim’s vision of denuclearization is?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yes, we did.  We did.

Q    Because there is a lot — a line of thinking that he wants to keep some nukes.

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.

Q    I mean, would you allow him to do that?  And if you can’t —

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I don’t — John, I don’t want to comment —

Q    If you can’t get —

THE PRESIDENT:  Excuse me, I don’t want to comment on that exactly, but he has a certain vision and it’s not exactly our vision, but it’s a lot closer than it was a year ago.  And I think, you know, eventually we’ll get there.

But for this particular visit, we decided that we had to walk, and we’ll see what happens.  Okay?

Oh, look, we have a gentleman nobody has ever heard of.  Sean Hannity — what are you doing here, Sean Hannity?  Should we let him do a question?  I don’t know.

Yeah, John, go ahead.

Q    If I could just follow up.

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.

Q    So if he wants the sanctions completely off, and you want more on denuclearization, how can you bridge that gap between now and the next time you might sit down with him?

THE PRESIDENT:  With time.  It’ll be bridged, I think, at a certain point.  But there is a gap.  We have to have sanctions.  And he wants to denuke, but he wants to just do areas that are less important than the areas that we want.  We know that — we know the country very well, believe it or not.  We know every inch of that country.  And we have to get what we have to get, because that’s a big — that’s a big give.

Yeah, Sean.  Please.

Q    I work in radio and TV.  The mic is on.

Mr. President, thank you.  Mr. Secretary, good to see you.  Mr. President, if you could elaborate a little bit more.  We have some history.  President Reagan walked away in Reykjavik.  A lot of condemnation at the time.  And it ended up working out very well in the end for the United States.

Was this mostly your decision?  Or — and what message would you want to send Chairman Kim, as he’s listening to this press conference, about the future and your relationship?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, Sean, I don’t want to say it was my decision, because what purpose is that?  I want to keep the relationship, and we will keep the relationship.  We’ll see what happens over the next period of time.

But, as you know, we got our hostages back.  There’s no more testing.  And one of the things, importantly, that Chairman Kim promised me last night is, regardless, he’s not going to do testing of rockets and nuclear.  Not going to do testing.  So, you know, I trust him, and I take him at his word.  I hope that’s true.

But, in the meantime, we’ll be talking.  Mike will be speaking with his people.  He’s also developed a very good relationship with the people — really, the people representing North Korea.  I haven’t spoken to Prime Minister Abe yet.  I haven’t spoken to President Moon of South Korea.  But we will, and we’ll tell them it’s a process and it’s moving along.  But we just felt it wasn’t appropriate to sign an agreement today.  We could have.  I just felt it wasn’t very appropriate.

Yeah, Jonathan.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.

Q    Two questions, if I may.  First, did you learn anything new about Chairman Kim, through this meeting?

And secondly, of course, while this was going on, the drama back in Washington, your former lawyer, Michael Cohen — who worked for you for 10 years; his office right next to yours, right by yours at Trump Tower — he called you a liar, a conman, a racist.  What’s your response to Michael Cohen?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, it’s incorrect.  And, you know, it’s very interesting, because I tried to watch as much as I could.  I wasn’t able to watch too much because I’ve been a little bit busy.  But I think having a fake hearing like that, and having it in the middle of this very important summit is really a terrible thing.  They could’ve made it two days later or next week, and it would’ve been even better.  They would’ve had more time.

But having it during this very important summit is sort of incredible.  And he lied a lot, but it was very interesting because he didn’t lie about one thing.  He said no collusion with the Russian hoax.  And I said, “I wonder why he didn’t just lie about that, too, like he did about everything else?”

I mean, he lied about so many different things, and I was actually impressed that he didn’t say, “Well, I think there was collusion for this reason or that.”  He didn’t say that.  He said, “No collusion.”  And I was, you know, a little impressed by that, frankly.  Could’ve — he could’ve gone all out.  He only went about 95 percent instead of 100 percent.

But the fact is, there is no collusion.  And I call it the “witch hunt.”  This should never happen to another President.  This is so bad for our country.  So bad.

You look at this whole hoax — I call it the Russian witch hunt.  I now add the word “hoax.”  It’s a very, very bad thing for our country.  But I was impressed with the fact that he — when — you know, because the most important question up there was the one on collusion.  And he said he saw no collusion.

So we’ll see what happens.  But it was pretty shameful, I think.

Yes, ma’am.  Please.  Please.

Q    President Trump —

Q    President Trump —

THE PRESIDENT:  How about one of you, instead of three?

Q    Well, actually, I do have the microphone.  I guess, so — well —

THE PRESIDENT:  Excuse me.  Excuse me.  Person in the front.  Go ahead.

Q    Thank you, President Trump, for —

THE PRESIDENT:  No, no.  No, not you.  Excuse me.  Yeah, we’ll get to you.

Thank you.

Q    Thank you, President Trump.  Jane Tung (ph) from (inaudible) Television.  What was the atmosphere like when you walked away from the negotiation table?  And —

THE PRESIDENT:  I think it was very good, very friendly.  This wasn’t a walk away, like you get up and walk out.  No, this was very friendly.  We shook hands.  You know, there’s a warmth that we have, and I hope that stays.  I think it will.

But we are — you know, we’re positioned to do something very special.  This has been going on for many decades.  This isn’t me.  You know, this was — this should’ve been solved during many presidential runs.  And, you know, people talked about it; they never did anything.  I get a kick out of so many people from past administrations telling me how to negotiate when they were there, in some cases, for eight years; they did nothing.

But I think the relationship was very warm, and when we walked away it was a very friendly walk.  Mike, you might want to speak to that for a second.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  No, I agree.  I talked with my counterparts as well.  But we hope we can do more, but everyone is very focused on how we continue to build on this.

We are certainly closer today than we were 36 hours ago.  And we were closer then than we were a month or two before that.  So real progress was made.

I think everyone had hoped we could do it just a little bit better.  But the departure was with an agreement that we would continue to work on what has been an incredibly difficult problem.  Both sides are resolved to achieve it, and everyone walked away in that spirit.

Q    And may I add: You and Chairman Kim are from very different political systems.  You are from different generations.  And what do you find —

THE PRESIDENT:  It’s a very different system.  I would say that’s true.

Q    How do you find, you guys, in common?  Because we saw the atmosphere —

THE PRESIDENT:  We just like each other.  I mean, we have a good relationship.  Yeah.  It’s a totally different system, to put it mildly.  But we like each other.  A good relationship.

Go ahead.  In the back.  Go ahead.

Q    Mr. President, do you think it was premature to have held the summit when all these things had not been tied down?  I mean, in the White House schedule last night, it said signing agreement today.  And I wonder whether — as a follow-up question, whether you could sketch out what the next few months look like.  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  You always have to be prepared to walk.  I could’ve signed an agreement today, and then you people would’ve said, “Oh, what a terrible deal.  What a terrible thing he did.”  No, you have be prepared to walk.  And, you know, there was a potential we could’ve signed something today.  I could’ve 100 percent signed something today.  We actually had papers ready to be signed, but it just wasn’t appropriate.  I want to do it right.  I’d much rather do it right than do it fast.

Yes, please.  Go ahead.  Go ahead.  Go.  First.  Go.  Yeah.

Q    (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT:  You have to speak up.

Q    I’m a reporter from South Korea, and I appreciate your effort to advance denuclearization in Korean Peninsula.  And could you elaborate on the options and the various ways that you discussed with Chairman Kim to advance denuclearization?  Could you specify?

THE PRESIDENT:  We discussed many ways.  And the denuclearization is a very important — it’s a very important word.  Become a very well used word.  And a lot of people don’t know what it means, but to me it’s pretty obvious: We have to get rid of the nukes.

I think he’s got a chance to have one of the most successful countries — rapidly, too — on Earth.  Incredible country, incredible location.  You’re right between — if you think of it, you have, on one side, Russia and China, and on the other you have South Korea, and you’re surrounded by water and among the most beautiful shorelines in the world.

There is tremendous potential in North Korea, and I think he’s going to lead it to a very important thing, economically.  I think it’s going to be an absolute economic power.

Yes.  Go ahead.  Please.  Go ahead.  Yeah.

Q    Mr. President, David Sanger from the New York Times.

THE PRESIDENT:  I know, David.

Q    Six months ago, when you spoke — or eight months ago, in Singapore, you said, if you didn’t have something in six months, we should come back and ask you about it.  In that time, you have seen Chairman Kim increase the number of missiles he’s produced and continue to produce more nuclear material.  And that’s been a pressure point on you, because he’s showing you the arsenals getting larger while this is going on.

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, some people, David, are saying that, and some people are denying that.  They have shots from above — way above — and some people are saying that and some people aren’t.

But I could’ve taken that out today, but I think you and others would’ve said we didn’t get enough for what we’d be giving up.  So — and, you know, don’t forget, we’re partners with a lot of countries on this, if you think about it, with the sanctions.  We have a whole big partnership with the United Nations and many countries, including Russia, China, and others.  And then, of course, South Korea is very important to this whole thing, and Japan.

I don’t want to do something that is going to violate the trust that we’ve built up.  We have a very strong partnership.

Q    So can you just give us a little more detail?  Did you get into the question of actually dismantling the Yongbyon complex?

THE PRESIDENT:  I did.  Yes.  Absolutely.

Q    And does he seem willing, ultimately —

THE PRESIDENT:  Totally.

Q    — to take all of that out?

THE PRESIDENT:  Sure.  Totally.

Q    He does?  He just wants all the sanctions off first?

THE PRESIDENT:  He would do that, but he wants the sanctions for that.  And as you know, there’s plenty left after that.  And I just I felt it wasn’t good.  Mike and I spent a long time negotiating and talking about it to ourselves.  And just — I felt that that particular, as you know, that facility, while very big, it wasn’t enough to do what we were doing.

Q    So he was willing to Yongbyon, but you wanted more than that?  I assume —

THE PRESIDENT:  We had to have more than that, yeah.  We had to have more than that because there are other things that you haven’t talked about, that you haven’t written about, that we found.  And we have to have — that was done a long time ago, but the people didn’t know about.

Q    Including the uranium —

THE PRESIDENT:  And we brought — yeah.

Q    Including the second uranium enrichment plant?

THE PRESIDENT:  Exactly.  And we brought many, many points up that I think they were surprised that we knew.  But we had to do more than just the one level.  Because if we did the one level, and we gave up all of that leverage that’s been taking a long time to build.  And I want to tell you, by the way —

Q    So he was not willing to take out that second —

THE PRESIDENT:  David, I want to take off the sanctions so badly, because I want that country to grow.  That country has got such potential, but they have to give up, or we could’ve done that deal.

Mike, you want to speak to that?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Only, David, there are also timing and sequencing issues that were associated with that as well, which we didn’t quite get across the finish line as well.  But remember, too, even that facility, even the Yongbyon facility and all of its scope — which is important, for sure — still leaves missiles, still leaves warheads and weapons systems.  So there’s a lot of other elements that we just couldn’t get to.

Q    And the listing of all of them.

SECRETARY POMPEO:  Yes, sir.  And a declaration.  So, all of those things, we couldn’t quite get there today.

THE PRESIDENT:  That’s right.  Go ahead.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.

Q    I just wanted to clarify, when you talk about what you would willing to give up all of the sanctions for, are you still thinking that you want North Korea to give up everything to do complete, verifiable denuclearization —

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I don’t want to say that to you —

Q    — before you lift sanctions?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.  Yeah.  It’s a good question.  I don’t want to say that to you because I don’t want to put myself in that position, from the standpoint of negotiation.  But, you know, we want a lot to be given up.  And we’re giving up.

And we’ll have to — you know, we’ll be helping them along economically, us and other — many other countries are going to be helping.  They’re going to be in there.  They’re prepared to help.  I can tell you: Japan, South Korea, I think China.  So many.

And speaking of China, we’re very well on our way to doing something special, but we’ll see.  I mean, I am always prepared to walk.  I’m never afraid to walk from a deal.  And I would do that with China, too, if it didn’t work out.

Q    Are you concerned, if you’re not able to reach an agreement, that the testing will start again?  Or that while all of this time is happening by —

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, he said the testing — yeah.

Q    — they are continuing to develop their program?

THE PRESIDENT:  He said the testing will not start.  He said that he’s not going to do testing of rockets or missiles or anything having to do with nuclear.  And all I can tell you is that’s what he said.  And we’ll see.

Yes, go ahead.  Please.  Go ahead, please.  In the back.  Red.  In the red.

Q    Thank you.  Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT:  Yes, thank you.

Q    Jessica Stone from CGTN.  I have a question about China, as you were talking about.  You talk about China being willing, potentially, to help economically.  And the fact that you’ve talked — or will talk to Presidents Moon and Prime Minister Abe, how would you describe China’s role in facilitating the engagement that’s happened, so far, between Pyongyang and Washington?

THE PRESIDENT:  I think China has been a big help.  Bigger than most people know.  On the border, as you know, 93 percent of the goods coming into North Korea come through China.  So there’s a great power there.  At the same time, I believe — I happen to believe that North Korea is calling its own shots.  They’re not taking orders from anybody.  He’s a very strong guy.  And they’re able to do things that are pretty amazing.  But 93 percent still come in from China.  China has an influence, and China has been a big help.

And Russia has been a big help too.  As you know, there’s a pretty small part of the border, but nevertheless significant — about 28 miles.  And things can happen there too.  And they’ve been a help.

Yes, go ahead, please.

Q    Thanks, President.  Jen Chen with Shenzhen Media Group of China.  In your meeting with Chairman Kim this morning and yesterday, did the topic of China come up?  If so, what can you share with us today?  And you probably will have the (inaudible) of Mar-a-Lago summit in March with Chinese President Xi Jinping.  What would you like accomplished with your agenda regarding China at that time?  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  We did talk about China today a lot.  And he’s getting along with China and so are we.  And we are — you know, we’re — we’re, right now, you look at what’s happened to our country; we’ve picked up trillions and trillions of dollars of net worth.  Our stock market is almost at its all-time high.  Our economy is incredible.  Our unemployment numbers are among the best we’ve ever had in our history.

Individual groups like African American, women — you just take a look at any group; Hispanic, you saw that just came out — the best in history; African American, best in history.  So many different numbers are coming out so good.  So we have the strongest economy, probably, possibly that we’ve ever had.

Fiat Chrysler just announced that they’re going to spend $4.5 billion right next to Detroit, in Michigan.  They’re building a tremendous plant.  It’s actually an expansion of another plant.  It’s going to be — it’s going to double up their jobs, and even more than that.  A lot of great things are happening.

And with China, they’re having some difficulty, as you know.  But I think that a lot of the difficulty is because of the tariffs that they’re having.  And in addition to that, we’re putting a tremendous amount of money; you saw trade deficits went down last month.  Everybody was trying to find out why.  Well, we’re taking in a lot of tariff money, and it’s going right to the bottom line and it has reduced the trade deficits.

So we’ll see what happens with China.  I think we have a very good chance.  Their numbers are down.  But I don’t want that.  I want their numbers — I want them to do great.  But we’ve been losing anywhere from $300- to $500 billion a year with China for many, many years.

And again, like other things, many Presidents should have done this before me, and nobody did.  So we’re doing it.

Go ahead.  Go ahead, please.  Right here.  This gentleman.

Q    Chad O’Carroll from NK News, (inaudible) with North Korea News.  What’s your message for President Moon, who has effectively reached the glass ceiling, as far inter-Korean cooperation is concerned, due to sanctions?  And what’s next for U.S.-ROK military drills?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I like President Moon very much.  We have a great relationship.  Believe it or not, I have a great relationship with almost every leader.  A lot of people find that hard to understand, but I do.  But some take advantage of our country like you wouldn’t believe.  And when they know I know it — which I know in every case — maybe it sort of freezes them up a little bit.  But we do; we have a lot of good relationships.

We’ll be calling President Moon very soon, as soon as I get by the phone, on the plane.  And he’ll be one of the first calls.  I’ll be calling Prime Minister Abe of Japan, telling him about where we are and what we’re doing.  But I’ll be making those calls.

No, he’s working very hard.  President Moon is working very hard.  He’d love to see a deal and he’s been very helpful.

Okay?  Thank you.  Go ahead, please.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.  I’m (inaudible), reporter from Global Times China.  I would like to ask you, what are you expecting China to do in the next step to mediate your relationship with North Korea?  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  To use China?

Q    Yeah, from China.

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we do.  I mean, China has been very helpful.  President Xi is a great leader.  He’s a highly respected leader all over the world and especially in Asia.  And he’s helped us — Mike, I would say he’s helped us a lot, right?

SECRETARY POMPEO:  He has.

THE PRESIDENT:  We’ve — I actually called him just recently to say, “Hey, you know, whatever you can do on this.”  But he has been very helpful at the border, and he’s been very, very helpful with, I think, North Korea generally.  Could he be a little more helpful?  Probably.  But he’s been excellent.

Go ahead, please.  No — yeah, please.

Q    (Laughs.)  (Inaudible) next.

THE PRESIDENT:  That’s okay.  You’re friends.

Q    Thanks, Mr. President.  Could you — did you commit with Chairman Kim to a next summit during your term?

THE PRESIDENT:  No, we haven’t — no.

Q    Okay.

THE PRESIDENT:  We’ll see.  If it happens, it happens.  I have not committed.

Q    They are, at this point, some would say, a nuclear power.  Do you accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state, at least for the time being?  And are you thinking about re-imposing the military exercises with South Korea, or will you keep it a freeze-for-freeze?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, you know, the military exercises, I gave that up quite a while ago because it costs us $100 million every time we do it.  We fly these massive bombers in from Guam.  And when I first started, a certain general said, “Oh, yes, sir, we fly them in from Guam.  It’s right next door.” Well, right next door is seven hours away.  And then they come and they drop millions of dollars of bombs, and then they go back and —

But we would spend — I mean, we spent hundreds of millions of dollars on those exercises, and I hated to see it.  I thought it was unfair.

And, frankly, I was, sort of, of the opinion that South Korea should help us with that.  You know, we’re protecting South Korea.  I think they should help us with that.

So those exercises are very expensive.  And I was telling the generals — I said: Look, you know, exercising is fun and it’s nice and they play the war games.  And I’m not saying it’s not necessary, because at some levels it is, but at other levels it’s not.  But it’s a very, very expensive thing.  And you know, we do have to think about that too.

But when they spend hundreds of millions of dollars on those exercises and we don’t get reimbursed — we’re spending a tremendous amount of money on many countries, protecting countries that are very rich that can certainly afford to pay us and then some.

And those countries — by the way, and those countries know that it’s not right, but nobody has ever asked them before.  But I’ve asked them and we’re doing — we’re gaining a lot of money.  We’ve picked up over a $100 billion just in NATO over the last two years.  A hundred billion dollars more has come in.  And we’re doing that with a lot of countries.  You’ll be seeing that a lot.

Yes, sir.  Please.

Q    Mr. President, sir —

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, one second, please.

Q    Yes, thank you, Mr. President.  You have a personal relationship — and I believe Vice President Pence does — with the family of Otto Warmbier.

THE PRESIDENT:  I do.

Q    I’m wondering — you’ve talked about, this week, about Kim Jong Un being “my friend” — you called him on Twitter.  You said you have a great relationship.  Have you, in Singapore or here, confronted Kim Jong Un about Otto Warmbier’s death —

THE PRESIDENT:  I have.  I have.

Q    — and asked him to take responsibility?  And what did he say to you?  And why do you call him your friend?

THE PRESIDENT:  I have.  And I have, and we have talked about it.  And I really don’t think it was in his interest at all.  I know the Warmbier family very well.  I think they’re an incredible family.  What happened is horrible.  I really believe something very bad happened to him, and I don’t think that the top leadership knew about it.

And when they had to send him home — by the way, I got the prisoners back.  I got the hostages back.  And Otto was one of the hostages, but Otto came back in shape that was not even to be talked about.  I find it — I thought it was horrible.  Now, the others came back extremely healthy.  But Otto came back in a condition that was just — just terrible.

And I will — I did speak about it, and I don’t believe that he would’ve allowed that to happen.  Just wasn’t to his advantage to allow that to happen.  Those prisons are rough.  They’re rough places.  And bad things happened.  But I really don’t believe that he was — I don’t believe he knew about it.

Q    Did he say — did he tell you that he did not — did Kim Jong Un tell you —

THE PRESIDENT:  He felt badly about it.  I did speak to him.  He felt very badly.  But he knew the case very well, but he knew it later.  And, you know, you got a lot of people.  A big country.  A lot of people.  And in those prisons and those camps, you have a lot of people.  And some really bad things happened to Otto.  Some really, really bad things.

But he tells me —

Q    Why are you (inaudible) —

THE PRESIDENT:  He tells me that he didn’t know about it, and I will take him at his word.

Yes, ma’am.  Go ahead.  Please.  Please.  Go ahead.  In the back.

Q    Me?

THE PRESIDENT:  No, in the back.  Behind you.  Thank you.

Q    Mr. President, (inaudible), Sputnik News Agency.  Have you discussed the issue of possible inspections to North Korea’s nuclear sites during your negotiations?

THE PRESIDENT:  You’re going to have to speak a little louder.  And where are you from?  Where are you from?

Q    Russia’s Sputnik News Agency.  Have you discussed the issue of possible inspections to North Korea’s nuclear sites during your talks with the Chairman?

THE PRESIDENT:  Why don’t you answer that, Mike?

I can’t —

Q    Inspections.

THE PRESIDENT:  Good.

Q    Inspections.  Inspections of nuclear sites.

THE PRESIDENT:  I was worried about my hearing.

Q    Inspections, sir.

THE PRESIDENT:  Oh, inspections.

Q    International inspections.  Yes.

THE PRESIDENT:  Oh, inspections.  Inspections on North Korea?  Oh, we’d be able — yeah.

Q    Yeah.  Inspections to the nuclear sites.

THE PRESIDENT:  We’d be able to do that very easily.  We have that set up, so we would be able to do that very easily.

The inspections on North Korea will take place and we’ll — if we do something with them — we have a schedule set up that is very good.  We know things that, as David was asking about certain places and certain sites — there are sites that people don’t know about that we know about.  We would be able to do inspections, we think, very, very successfully.

Yes, ma’am.  Please.  Please.  Yes, go ahead.  Please.  Yes.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT:  A lot of people here, by the way.  A big group of people.

Q    Yes.

THE PRESIDENT:  Go ahead.

Q    Kann News Israel, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT:  Good.  Good.

Q    Following this engagement with North Korea, you are trying to bring peace to the Middle East.

THE PRESIDENT:  Right.

Q    The peace plan is about to be introduced in the near future.  And as you have mentioned before —

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we hope.  We hope.  We’re working hard on the peace plan and we hope it will be (inaudible).

Q    I believe you do.  But as you mentioned before, it will require Israel to make compromises to the Palestinians.  As far as you know, is Prime Minister Netanyahu willing to make these compromises which are very much needed?

And a second question: Mr. Netanyahu is about to indicted today with corruption allegations.  Do you wish to tell him something on this occasion?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I just think he’s been a great prime minister.  And I don’t know about his difficulty, but you’re telling me something that, you know, the people have been hearing about.  But I don’t know about that.

I can say this: that he’s done a great job as prime minister.  He’s tough, he’s smart, he’s strong.  He is very defensive.  His military has been built up a lot.  They buy a lot of equipment from the United States and they pay for it.  Of course, we give them tremendous, as you know, subsidy, also.  Four billion dollars is a lot each year.  But they are — they’ve been very good.  They’ve been incredible, actually, in many ways.  But there is a chance for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

And, you know, it’s interesting — all of my life, I’ve heard that the toughest of all deals — when they talk about tough deals; we all like deals — but the toughest of all deals would be peace between Israel and Palestinians.  They say it’s like the impossible deal.  I’d love to be able to produce it.  We’ll see what happens.

You know, we were paying the Palestinians a lot of money.  And I ended that about two years ago because they weren’t saying the right things.  And I said, why would we pay somebody that’s not saying nice things about us, and not really wanting to go to the peace table?  And they’ve been much better.  And we’ll see what happens.

Q    But has Mr. Netanyahu made concessions?

THE PRESIDENT:  But I think we really — I think we have, actually, a good shot at peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Q    Has Netanyahu made concessions?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, go ahead.  Please.  Sir.

Q    Mr. President, I’m from China.  My question is: Do you still believe it is possible that the North Korea and U.S. relation could be like the U.S. and the Vietnam relation in the future?

THE PRESIDENT:  You have to go again.

Q    Do you believe — do you still believe that is it is possible that the relation between U.S. and North Korea, in the future, could be like the relation between U.S. and Vietnam?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.  I think we’re going have — yeah.  I mean, we have very, very good relations.  And, by the way, speaking of — you mentioned Japan — we have a lot of good things happening Japan.  We have trade talks started.  For years, Japan has been sending millions and millions of cars in, and as you know, it’s not been a very fair situation for the United States.

We’re starting trade talks with Japan.  They actually started about three months ago, and I think we’ll have a very good deal for the United States.  But that’s been a very unfair situation.  Prime Minister Abe understands that, and that’s fine.

Yes, sir.  Please.  Back there.

Q    Thank you, Mr. President.  I’m (inaudible) with Shanghai Media Group.  Do you think the next meeting could be soon, or might take some time?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I can’t tell you.  I mean, it might be soon.  It might not be for a long time.  I can’t tell you.  I would hope it would be soon.  But it may not be for a long time.

I could’ve done — I could’ve done a deal today, but it would’ve been a deal that wouldn’t have been a deal that — it would’ve been something that I wouldn’t have been happy about, Mike would not have been happy about.  We had some pretty big options.  But we just felt it wasn’t appropriate, and we really want to do it right.

Yes, in the back.  In the back.  Yes, ma’am.  Please.

Q    Debi Edward, ITV News.  At which point did it become clear to you that you wouldn’t be getting a deal here in Hanoi?  The language from yourself and Kim Jong Un was very positive last night and even this morning.  And therefore, was it a mistake to come here?

THE PRESIDENT:  No, I think the language was good all throughout.  The language has been good even now.  But, you know, I don’t go by language, because we had probably the toughest language in the history of diplomacy — if you call it diplomacy — at the beginning, and yet, we became very friendly.  I don’t believe there was any tougher language ever than that.

But, again, this was something that should’ve been handled by other Presidents long before me and long before they had the kind of power that they have.  But it wasn’t.  It should’ve been done by many — I’m not just blaming the Obama administration, which, by the way, it did nothing.  Nothing.  Did absolutely on North Korea.  It allowed things that happened, and to happen, that were very inappropriate.  But I’m not blaming the Obama administration.  I’m blaming many administrations.  Something should’ve happened.

But I don’t think the rhetoric has been bad at all.  Initially, it was horrible, but now it’s been very good.

All right, one more.  How about you?  Go ahead.  Please. Please.  Go ahead.

Q    (Inaudible) from South Korea, (inaudible) South Korean media outlet here.  I’d like to ask you: You said that we do not particularly know when there will be — North Korean leader will be willing to come to the table and take the actions that’s been required.  If that’s the case, would the U.S. be willing to strengthen the sanctions and perhaps put the pressure on North Korea to move forward?

THE PRESIDENT:  I don’t want to comment on that.  I can just tell you this: that we have very strong sanctions.  I don’t want to talk about increasing sanctions.  They’re strong.  They have a lot of great people in North Korea that have to live also.  And that’s important to me.

And I would say this: My whole attitude changed a lot because I got to know, as you know, Chairman Kim very well.  And they have a point of view also.

So I don’t really want to talk about that.  I just think that, hopefully, for the sake of South Korea, for the sake of Japan, and frankly, for the sake of China — I was talking to President Xi, who really is a man that gets the respect of a lot of people — I say, “You can’t love having a nuclear state right next to China.”  And he doesn’t.  He really doesn’t.  I will tell you, he would like to see that problem solved, too.  So that’s it.

Well, ladies and gentleman, I’m about to get on a plane and fly back to a wonderful place called Washington, D.C.  So, thank you very much.  Thank you.  Thank you, fellas.  Thank you very much.

END

2:53 P.M. ICT

REMARKS

Remarks by President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in a 1:1 Conversation

FOREIGN POLICY

Issued on: February 27, 2019

Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi

Hanoi, Vietnam

CHAIRMAN KIM: (As interpreted.) So it’s exactly 261 days since we met last time in Singapore, in June, last year.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes.

CHAIRMAN KIM: (As interpreted.) And I truly believe that this successful and great meeting that we are having today is thanks to the courageous decision — political decision that your team, Mr. President, reached.

So, during that 261 days since we last met, there have been some misunderstandings. There have been all these eyes from the world who are misunderstanding the situation. But — and there was some hostility that still remains from the very, very past period that — from the outside.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right.

CHAIRMAN KIM: (As interpreted.) But, however, we have been able to overcome all the obstacles, and here we are today after 261 days, in Hanoi.

I actually believe that those 261 days were the days which were — and during which a lot of painstaking efforts were necessary and also a lot of patience were needed.

But here we are today, sitting next to each other, and that gives us a hope that we will be successful with time. And I will really try to make that happen.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. That’s really nice.

Well, I want to just say it’s an honor to be with Chairman Kim. It’s an honor to be together in, really, a country, Vietnam, where they’ve really rolled out the red carpet and they’ve — they’re very honored to have us. And it’s great to be with you.

We had a very successful first summit. I felt it was very successful, and some people would like to see it go quicker. I’m satisfied; you’re satisfied. We want to be happy with what we’re doing. But I thought the first summit was a great success. And I think this one, hopefully, will be equal or greater than the first. And we made a lot progress, and I think the biggest progress was our relationship is really a good one.

And as I’ve said many times — and I say it to the press, I say it to anybody that wants to listen: I think that your country has tremendous economic potential. Unbelievable. Unlimited. And I think that you will have a tremendous future with your country — a great leader. And I look forward to watching it happen and helping it to happen. And we will help it to happen.

Thank you all very much. We appreciate it. And we’re going to go have dinner, and then we have some big meetings scheduled for tomorrow. And we’ll see you, I guess, at a news conference at some point during the day. Thank you very much.

Q Mr. President, do you have any reaction to Michael Cohen and his testimony?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: (Shakes head.)

END

;

President Trump meets Vietnamese officials to witness Trade Deals made by the US and Vietnam making the Country Millions

U.S. President Donald Trump is meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart hours before he is set to sit down with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Trump is greeting Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong, whose country is hosting the second summit between the leaders of the two technically-warring nations.

The two leaders presided over a signing ceremony of several commercial trade deals between their two airline industries.

REMARKS

Remarks by President Trump at 2019 Governors’ Ball

Issued on: February 24, 2019

State Floor

7:42 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, everybody. This is an honor. Fifty-nine governors. Think of that. But we actually have — we added a few from the islands, so we broke it down to 49. But we love to exaggerate just a little bit. (Laughter.)

This has been a — really, a great couple of days. We’ve had a lot of fun together. And it’s been, you know, very special. We’ve gotten to know each other. We’ve gotten to like each other, in almost all cases. Let’s see — one or two cases. Every case, I would say. (Laughter.) Every single case.

I just want to thank Vice President Mike Pence and our Second Lady, Karen. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Thank you, Mike, very much. And I especially want to thank our really great Cabinet for being here. We have most members of the Cabinet, and our great new Attorney General. And, Bill Barr and Mrs. Barr, thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you.

I could say this: Our country is doing very, very well. We are doing record business. We’re doing record employment. Right now, we have the most people working in our country than ever in the history of our country. Close to 160 million people. (Applause.) And that’s a big — that’s a big thing.

And I’ll give you a little advance information. I see Steve Mnuchin is here, and Ambassador Lighthizer. We just left a big meeting with China, and we just put out a statement, and we’re doing very well with China. It was a long weekend. They decided to stay for two and a half more days. They’ll probably be leaving late tonight; they’re going back. And if all works well, we’re going to have some very big news over the next week or two.

And it’s really been terrific, I tell you. That whole relationship has been outstanding. We put ourselves into a position of strength for the first time in about 35 years, or probably a lot more than that.

But China has been terrific. We want to make a deal that’s great for both countries. And that’s really what we’re going to be doing. And I think it’s going to — as governors — most of you, or many of you are governors, and doing an incredible job. And so many have come up and said, “How are you doing with China?” Which is a very unusual question for people to come and ask — almost every one. “Sir, how are you doing with China?” Because it affects your state so much. China is everywhere. And I think you’ll be very — really amazed with what you see. Maybe. Let’s see what happens. We still have a little ways to go. Would you say that’s correct, Mr. Ambassador? We have a little bit.

But I want to thank you, Bob. You’ve been working 24 hours around the clock. And I will say this publicly: When I was able to be lucky enough to win the presidency, I called Bob Lighthizer because, for years, people have known he’s the greatest trader that we have on this type of trade. We have many different types of trade. And I really understand now why. Thank you very much. Fantastic job. (Applause.) And Steve. Thank you.

And also, I was going to leave very early tomorrow, but now I’m going to do it a little bit later. I had an option to do it at six in the morning or eleven. (Laughter.) And I chose 11. This way we can spend a little bit of time with you tomorrow morning, because you’re having a breakfast. And I’ll come to the breakfast. But literally, I said, “What kind of an option is that? I can leave at six in the morning or eleven?” They said, “You can leave at six or anywhere between eleven and twelve.” I said, “I’ll take eleven to twelve.” (Laughter.) But you’re having a breakfast tomorrow, so I’ll be with you at the breakfast.

But we’ll be leaving for Hanoi, Vietnam, and we’ll be meeting with Kim Jong Un. It’s a very interesting thing to say, but I’ve developed a very, very good relationship. We’ll see what that means. But he’s never had a relationship with anybody from this country, and hasn’t had lots of relationships anywhere. And I always say — you know, the media sometimes will say, “Well, what have they given up?” We’ve given up nothing. The sanctions are on. Everything is on. But we have a special feeling, and I think it’s going to lead to something very good, and maybe not. I think ultimately it will, but maybe not.

And I’m not pushing for speed, but we’re not removing the sanctions. And we’re going to have, I think, a very interesting two and a half days in Vietnam. And we have a chance for the total denuclearization of an area of the world that was very dangerous.

When I first came in, or, really, more particularly, at the end of the last administration, there were rockets going up, there were missiles going up. There were bombs going off. There were massive cannons being tested. If you ever saw the picture of the beach, I’ve never seen anything like it, where you had, literally, thousands of cannons on the beach, shooting out into the waters. And there was nuclear testing. In fact, they thought it was earthquakes. They said they were massive earthquakes, and then they realized it was North Korea. They said, “Wow, I think it’s maybe not an earthquake.” Now there’s no testing, there’s no rockets. There’s no nuclear testing. And we get along well. Very well.

So it’ll be very interesting to see. And as I tell Chairman Kim, he has a chance to have a country that is so vibrant, economically. Maybe one of the most in the world. He’s got a location that’s unbelievable. As a real-estate person, I’ve always done very well with location. But he’s right between China, Russia, and then on the other side, South Korea. So they can’t touch each other unless they go through North Korea.

And I say, “You have one of the greatest locations.” They have incredible people. Hardworking people. Smart, energetic. And I think it can be, really, one of the great — one of the great financial and economic countries anywhere in the world. So I tell him that. I said, “But you can’t do that if you’re going to keep nuclear. If you do nuclear, that can’t ever happen.”

And we see eye to eye, I believe. But you’ll be seeing it more and more over the next couple of days, one way or the other. What’s going to happen? I can’t tell you. I think eventually it would, but I can’t tell you. And I’m not in a rush. I don’t want to rush anybody. I just don’t want testing. As long as there’s no testing, we’re happy.

And so we’ve done really something, I think, very special with respect to North Korea. And it’s a long flight, and I’ll be back at the end of the week. But we have two very interesting days planned, and I think it’s a very important — it’s a very important thing.

Prime Minister Abe of Japan said he can’t believe what’s happened in such a short period of time, because rockets were being fired over Japan — rockets and missiles. Both. And now that hasn’t happened in a long time — 16 months, 17 months. No more testing. No more rockets. No more checking to see whether or not this stuff works.

So you’ll be seeing it, and I think it’s going to be very interesting for people to see. But there’s a chance to do something very, very special. It’s very exciting. And likewise, if we can do the great economic deal, it would be the largest trade deal ever made, by far, if you look at it — our deal with China. And we truly are very close.

So those are a couple of very interesting things.

But our country is doing incredibly well, economically. We’ve picked up, in terms of value — worth — $18 trillion. Now, China — and I don’t want this — but China has lost about $24 trillion. So they were catching us, catching us, catching us. And now we’ve zoomed out. And I can say this: As long as I’m President, they’re not going to catch us, and they’re going to do well. But I want them to do well, but they’re not going to catch us.

So I just want to give a toast to the incredible people in this room and to our unbelievable country. We have a very, very special country. I want to thank our First Lady for having done — this is a such a beautiful job. So, Melania, I just want to thank you very much. (Applause.) I want to thank you.

And I would like to ask Governor Bullock to come up please, from a very special place that I like very much, for the obvious reason. And perhaps you could give a toast. Please. Thank you, Governor. Thank you very much.

END

7:51 P.M. EST

2:11 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, thank you very much. I had a great conversation this morning with President Moon of South Korea. And we obviously discussed the upcoming trip next week, where we’re going Hanoi, in Vietnam. And I look forward to be with Chairman Kim, and I think a lot of things will come out of it.

We had a tremendous first summit. That was really breaking the ice, but a lot of things came from that, including good relationships. And we’re looking forward to having a very good meeting. And President Moon and I discussed, I think, probably every aspect of the meeting; it was a good conversation. I’ll be speaking tomorrow with Prime Minister Abe of Japan, and we’ll be having a similar conversation. So I think next week is going to be very exciting.

It’s going to be the second summit. I think a lot can come from it — at least, I hope so — the denuclearization, ultimately. I’m in no particular rush. The sanctions are on, the relationships are very strong, and a lot of good things have happened.

We’ve gotten our hostages back. The remains are coming back. Vice President Pence was in Hawaii when the first large number, actually, had come. And now, certain have been identified. Their families members have found out exactly what’s going on, and they’ve had ceremonies that are absolutely beautiful. That was an incredible event.

In fact, when we were campaigning, so many people would say — even though it was many years ago, they would say, “Is it possible to get the remains back from North Korea?” So we’ve done that. And as you know, there’s been no testing of rockets, missiles, or nuclear.

So we’re in no rush. A lot of the media would like to say, “Oh, what’s going on? Speed, speed, speed.” No rush whatsoever. We are going to have our meeting; we’ll see what happens. And I think, ultimately, we’re going to be very, very successful.

When I became President, the relationship with North Korea was a very dangerous one for the world, and I think now it’s far less dangerous. And there’s a lot of sanity, a lot of really sane thinking.

So he looks forward to it; I look forward to it. And the talk with President Moon, and tomorrow with Prime Minister Abe, I think will be very helpful.

Today, I’m thrilled to sign a new order taking the next step to create the United States Space Force. So important, when you look at defense, when you look at all of the other aspects of where the world will be someday. I mean, this is the beginning. This is a very important process.

First, I want to recognize our wonderful Vice President, Mike Pence, who serves as the Chairman of the National Space Council. Thank you, Mike. Great job. I know you feel the same way I do.

I also want to thank Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who is with us; Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson; Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Paul Selva; and the Executive Secretary of the Space Council, Dr. Scott Pace for being here today.

They’ve all worked very hard on the Space Force. They all believe in it very strongly, as I do. It’s the future. It’s where we’re going. I suspect, whether we like it or not, that’s where we’re going. It’s space. That’s the next step, and we have to be prepared.

Our adversaries and — whether we get along with them or not, they’re up in space. And they’re doing it, and we’re doing it. And that’s going to be a very big part of where the defense of our nation — and you could say “offense” — but let’s just be nice about it and let’s say the defense of our nation is going to be.

America must be fully equipped to defend our vital interests. Our adversaries are training forces and developing technology to undermine our security in space, and they’re working very hard at that.

That’s why my administration has recognized space as a warfighting domain and made the creation of the Space Force a national security priority. I think we’ll have great support from Congress, because they do support something when we’re talking about such importance. And a lot of the generals, a lot of the people involved have been speaking to Congress. And we have some very interesting dialogue going on.

We’re investing in new space capabilities to project military power and safeguard our nation’s interests, especially when it comes to safety and defense.

This directive calls on the Secretary of Defense to develop a legislative proposal that will establish the structure and authority of the Space Force as the sixth branch of the United States Armed Forces. That would mean a high-ranking — the highest-ranking person there would go on to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. So it’s a very, very important deal.

The Space Force will organize, equip, and train the next generation of warriors to deter aggression and defend the nation, our allies, and American interests against hostile actions in the form of space and taking place in space.

So we have a lot of things on the books. We have a lot of new defensive weapons and offensive weapons designed specifically for this, and now we’re going to start taking advantage of. This is something they could have done sooner but they decided to wait. And here I am, and we’re going to do it. And I’m very proud that, during my administration, we’re doing so much in space. We need it.

We’ve already taken historic action to create the United States Space Command, as you know, within the Department of Defense to oversee the nation’s military space operations.

Now, in the face of these threats all around the world, American leadership in space is more important than it ever has been. Before, it used to be something that we’d aspire to, we’d talk about, but we wouldn’t do anything. Now we have to do something because that’s where it’s at.

With today’s action, we will ensure that our people are secure, our interests are protected, and our power continues to be unmatched. There will be nobody that can come close to matching us. It won’t be close.

What we have on the books are things that you wouldn’t even believe. You wouldn’t even believe. It’s going to mean the safety of our nation for many, many decades and many, many generations, and that’s what I’m here for. I guess when you get right down to it, more importantly than anything else, that’s why I’m here.

So I just want to thank everybody. The Space Force is a very important part of my administration and it’s a very important part of this nation. And it’s an honor to be with you all. And I’ll sign and we will then maybe take a few questions and ask a few. You may want to say something. In fact, Mike, why don’t you start off? You’ve been — you and I have been working on this very hard. Why don’t you say a few words? Please.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: We have. Thank you, Mr. President. From the first days of this administration, President Trump has made national security a priority. We’ve secured historic investments in our national defense.

But from very early on, the President also said that America needed to be as dominant in space as we are on the Earth. And now, with this fourth Space Policy Directive, America is leading in space once again.

But in this respect, the President is calling on the Department of Defense to fashion what we have literally been working on for months, consulting with members of Congress and military experts. It will be a legislative proposal that will establish the United States Space Force as the sixth branch of our armed forces.

It will build on the President’s leadership of a United States Space Command, a joint combatant command that we’ve already organized at the President’s direction. But this is now the foundation of ensuring that even as we are dominant in space today, now we’ll begin to bring all of our resources together under U.S. Space Command, which will operate under the Department of the Air Force. And in so doing, we’ll ensure that we bring the best resources and the best minds together to protect the American people and advance our interests.

And, Mr. President, all the members of the National Space Council and the agencies that are a part of it are gathered behind you today —

THE PRESIDENT: That’s right.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: — and we thank you for your leadership and your support in this effort.

THE PRESIDENT: Some great talent, I will say that. Would you like to say something? You’ve helped us so much. Please, Paul.

GENERAL SELVA: Sir, you’ve been incredibly supportive in bringing space to the fore as not only a domain of potential warfare, but also recognizing it as a place where a large amount of our economic power comes from. And so our job to protect our national security includes protecting our economy as well. And so, as your Vice Chairman, the Joint Chiefs endorse all this effort to make sure that we get the right emphasis on defending our interests and our assets in space.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Paul. Patrick? How about you?

ACTING SECRETARY SHANAHAN: Yes, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Secretary.

ACTING SECRETARY SHANAHAN: This is a historic moment. The dawn of a new service. I’d like to thank you for your leadership and, most importantly, the resources so that we can do our job.

Mr. Vice President, thank you for pushing us. We’ve come quite a distance in a very short period of time.

And then to my counterparts here, thank you for all the remarkable teamwork. We will deliver the capability better, sooner, faster so we can sustain our margin of dominance.

Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.

Maybe John Bolton — you’ve been very much involved and I know how you feel about it.

AMBASSADOR BOLTON: Well, this is a visionary project, Mr. President — your leadership, the Vice President, and really everybody on the Space Council. This is not something for the next year or two, or even the next six years. This is on into the century. A place where, as President Kennedy once said, “I believe space is a new ocean and the United States must sail upon it.” And you’re taking the steps to make sure that, from the national security perspective, the United States will be dominant on that new ocean.

THE PRESIDENT: And we will be. Okay, thank you.

Anybody have anything to say? Huh? Would anybody like to say? Fine? No? Good. We’re all (inaudible). (Laughter.) Right? We’ve said enough. Let’s sign. Let’s sign. It’s very exciting.

(The directive is signed.)

So how about we give this one to Paul? Mike, do you want to do that? Okay. Come on, Paul. That’s a big deal. (Applause.)

It’s very important. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

Q Mr. President, there’s another round of trade talks starting this week here in Washington.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s right.

Q How confident are you that it will be finished by March 1? Or are you considering extending that deadline?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, they are very complex talks. They’re going very well. We’re asking for everything that anybody has ever even suggested. These are not just, you know, “let’s sell corn or let’s do this.” It’s going to be selling corn but a lot of it — a lot more than anyone thought possible. And I think the talks are going very well — with China, you’re referring to?

Q Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: And the talks are going very well.

Our group just came back and now they’re coming here. I can’t tell you exactly about timing, but the date is not a magical date. A lot of things can happen.

The real question will be: Will we raise the tariffs? Because they automatically kick in to 25 percent as of — on $200 billion worth of goods that they send. So I know that China would like not for that to happen. So I think they’re trying to move fast so that doesn’t happen. But it’s — we’ll see what happens.

I can only say that the talks with China on trade have gone very, very well. In the meantime, our economy is very strong. We’re doing well.

I don’t know if you noticed, but deficits seem to be coming down. And last month it was reported, and everybody was surprised, but I wasn’t surprised. We’re taking in a lot of money coming into our Treasury from tariffs and various things, including the steel dumping. And our steel companies are doing really well. Aluminum companies also. So we’re very happy about that.

I think that it’s — they’ll be coming very shortly. They’re going to have very detailed discussions on subjects that have never really been even discussed by people that sat in this chair and they should have been. Very important subjects. And I think we’re doing very well. Okay?

Q (Inaudible) terrorists from Pakistan have been — struck, inside India, 40 security persons last week. How do you see this issue? What’s the message to Pakistan?

THE PRESIDENT: I’ve seen it. I’ve watched. I’ve gotten a lot of reports on it. We’ll have a comment at the appropriate time. It would be wonderful if they got along. It seems like that was a horrible situation. But we’re getting reports. We’ll have a statement to put out. Okay? Thank you very much.

Q Mr. President, did you ask Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to change the leadership of the investigation into your former personal attorney, Michael Cohen?

THE PRESIDENT: No. Not at all. I don’t know who gave you that. Just more fake news. A lot of — there’s a lot of fake —

Q (Inaudible) story in the New York Times.

THE PRESIDENT: — there’s a lot of fake news out there. No, I didn’t.

Q What is the current status of your relationship with Mr. Whitaker?

THE PRESIDENT: Very good. I have a lot of respect for Mr. Whitaker. I think he’s done a great job. He’s a very, very straight shooter. I watched him during the hearing — some of it. I thought he was exceptional. He’s a very fine man and he should be given a lot of thanks by our nation.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Q Mr. President, what’s your reaction to the lawsuits yesterday filed by the states against your executive order?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think I called it exactly, right? Including the fact that they would put them in through the Ninth Circuit. That’s where they put them in. And I think we’ll do very well.

We have absolute right to do that. I have an absolute right to call a national security. We need strong borders. We have to stop drugs and crime and criminals and human trafficking. And we have to stop all of those things that a strong wall will stop. I could call it a barrier, but I think I don’t have to do that so much anymore. We’ll call it whatever we want.

But the point is that we have to have a stoppage. Billions and billions of dollars of illicit things are pouring through our border. And, you know, we talk about points of entry, and one of the things that we do have is a lot of money now from points of entry, because everything was given. The money was given — so much that you almost don’t know what to do with it — by Congress. But when it came to the wall, they wanted to hold back because it was politics. That’s all it is.

In fact, I hear the Democrats want to take down all walls along the southern border. And if they do that, you’re going to have a very different country. But they’re not going to do that. They wouldn’t. First of all, they won’t do it because they know it’s wrong. They know walls are necessary, maybe more than we do. But they’re playing a political game. And their new game is, “Let’s take down all walls.” I saw where Beto wanted to take down walls. I said — they asked me, “What do you think?” I said, “Well, I think that’s probably the end of his political career.”

We’re doing very well on the wall. We’re building a lot of wall right now. You know that. In the valley, we’re doing tremendous work in a very important area. We have a lot more under negotiation right now. We’re working with the Army Corps of Engineers. They’re fantastic. And a lot of great things are happening.

I think, in the end, we’re going to be very successful with the lawsuit. So it was filed — it was filed in the Ninth Circuit. And I actually think we might do very well, even in the Ninth Circuit, because it’s an open and closed case.

I was put here for security — whether it’s Space Force, which we’re doing today, or whether it’s borders. Because if our nation doesn’t have borders, we don’t have too much of a nation, especially when drugs and all of the things that — you know better than anybody what’s happening at the border. It’s a bad situation. So I think we’re going to do very well with the lawsuit.

Okay?

Q Just one more on Vietnam. You said — you referred earlier to your meetings in Vietnam. What do you want to achieve during that summit?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I’d just like to see, ultimately, denuclearization of North Korea. I think we will see that ultimately. I have no pressing time schedule. And I think a lot of people would like to see it go very quickly from the other side.

I really believe that North Korea can be a tremendous economic power when this is solved. Their location between Russia, China, and South Korea is unbelievable. I think that North Korea and Chairman Kim have some very positive things in mind, and we’ll soon find out. But I’m in no rush. There’s no testing. As long as there’s not testing, I’m in no rush. If there’s testing, that’s another deal. But there has been no testing.

If you look at the end of the Obama administration, it was a disaster what was going on. You don’t have that right now; it’s a much different feeling. I think people have — there’s always danger, but I think people have a much different feeling.

So I hope that very positive things are going to happen. I think that it will be a very exciting couple of days.

Thank you all very much.

Q Your reaction to Bernie Sanders running for President?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, Bernie Sanders is running. Yeah, that’s right. Personally, I think he missed his time. But I like Bernie because he’s — he is one person that, you know, on trade, he sort of would agree on trade. I’m being very tough on trade. He was tough on trade. The problem is he doesn’t know what to do about it. We’re doing something very spectacular on trade.

But I wish Bernie well. It will be interesting to see how he does. I think what happened to Bernie maybe was not so nice. I think he was taken advantage of. He ran great four years ago, and he was not treated with respect by Clinton. And that was too bad. I thought what happened to Bernie Sanders four years ago was quite sad as it pertains to our country. So we’ll see how he does.

You’ve got a lot of people running, but only one person is going to win. I hope you know who that person is.

Goodbye, everybody.

END

2:31 P.M. EST

Vietnam, exemplary case of economic development for N. Korea

According to Arirang News, Dated Feb. 19th, 2019, Reporter Oh Jung-hee explains.

Vietnam is geographically close enough to North Korea that the North Korean leader can fly there.

And it has diplomatic ties with both Pyeongyang and Washington.

These are the reasons why the Southeast Asian country was chosen as the venue for the second Kim-Trump summit -- but there is another reason why Hanoi was an attractive choice.

The U.S.-Vietnam history plays a part here.

Vietnam and the U.S. fought in a war from 1965 until 1975.

But their hostile relations came to an end as they established diplomatic relations in 1995, 10 years after Vietnam started its Doi Moi economic reforms.

In 2000, Vietnam and the U.S. signed a bilateral trade agreement, which expanded Hanoi's overseas trade.

Hanoi succeeded in developing a free market economy, while keeping a single-party communist system.

Hanoi has been willing to share its development experience with North Korea -- and Pyeongyang sent its foreign minister last year to study the Vietnamese model.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that... Pyeongyang could replicate Hanoi's path to normal relations with the U.S. and to prosperity.

Kim and Trump's choice of Vietnam shows that they're willing to end their hostilities and start a new relationship.

But more importantly, Trump is making another promise that once Pyeongyang follows through on its commitment to denuclearize, what's to come next is the 'economic bright future' that Kim Jong-un desires.

Kim's aim of developing the North's economy could be even more evident during his state visit to Vietnam, where he'll be touring key industrial facilities near the capital, while strengthening relations with the Vietnamese government.

Meanwhile, Arirang News reported also North Korea continuing to develop, experiment with nuclear and ballistic weapons: Report With the countdown on to the second Kim-Trump summit, a major news outlet in Japan is reporting that North Korea is still violating UN sanctions.

Tokyo-based Kyodo News Agency on Sunday quoted a panel of experts on sanctions on North Korea,. as saying the regime has continued to develop and experiment with nuclear and ballistic weapons using non-military facilities, such as private airports and factories.

It added that North Korea continues to smuggle petroleum products through illegal transfers at sea, and are smuggling more coal.

North Korea Nuclear Disaster: 200 Dead at Missile Testing Facility

Published on Oct 31, 2017

North Korea’s Punggye-ri facility has suffered a devastating collapse, leaving around 200 people dead.

Around 100 people were killed when an unfinished tunnel collapsed at Kim Jong-un’s main nuclear testing site.

Another 100 people subsequently died while attempting to rescue the first group of entombed workers.

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Published on Mar 18, 2017

5 Declassified Nuclear Explosions Caught on Film

Dark5 presents incredible HD footage and the stories behind the newly declassified nuclear test videos released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Dark5

Arirang News dated Feb 9th, 2019 Oh Jung-hee reported that The venue for the second North Korea-U.S. summit has been set.

It will be held in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi later this month.

The announcement was made by President Donald Trump this morning who said he looks forward to the meeting and that North Korea could become a great economic powerhouse.

Our Unification Ministry correspondent Oh Jung-hee starts us off. The location is finally set.

The second Kim-Trump summit is to be held in Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, for two days from February 27th to 28th.

That was revealed through U.S. President Donald Trump's tweet on Saturday.

Hanoi has been much preferred by the North Korean side.

First of all, it has the North Korean embassy.

And second, late former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung, grandfather of Kim Jong-un, visited the city two times in 1958 and 1964.

It's also known that the Vietnamese government recommended Hanoi for the summit.

As it will be the first time in over 50 years that a North Korean leader travels to the country, it's possible that Kim could make a state visit to Vietnam.

The venue announcement comes after the U.S. Special Representative for North Korea made a three-day visit to Pyeongyang this week.

On Saturday, Stephen Biegun stopped by at Seoul's foreign ministry to brief his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on the results of his meetings with the North. "We are in the midst of a conversation with the North and our discussions were productive. We have some hard work to do with the DPRK between now and then and I am confident that both sides stay committed we can make real progress."

From Wednesday to Friday, Biegun met with his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok-chol, whom the U.S. State Department confirmed as Pyeongyang's Special Representative for U.S. Affairs.

Kim Hyok-chol and Biegun sealed the location of the upcoming summit.

But, according to Washington, they also discussed advancing the commitments made at the Singapore summit which means, the two sides talked about some specific actions they should take in terms of denuclearizing and rewarding.

Watchers believe Washington is demanding that the North dismantle additional sites and allow access and verification by American experts.

And in return, it's likely that Washington is considering offering some type of assistance for the North's economic development.

Through Twitter on Saturday, Trump stressed that North Korea will become a 'great economic powerhouse,' again encouraging the regime to denuclearize.

With the second Pyeongyang-Washington summit only three weeks away, the envoys from the two sides Stephen Biegun and Kim Hyok-chol are to meet again to fine tune the details of the summit.

REMARKS

President Donald J. Trump’s State of the Union Address

Issued on: February 5, 2019

Remarks as prepared for delivery

TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

Madam Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, the First Lady of the United States, and my fellow Americans:

We meet tonight at a moment of unlimited potential. As we begin a new Congress, I stand here ready to work with you to achieve historic breakthroughs for all Americans.

Millions of our fellow citizens are watching us now, gathered in this great chamber, hoping that we will govern not as two parties but as one Nation.

The agenda I will lay out this evening is not a Republican agenda or a Democrat agenda. It is the agenda of the American people.

Many of us campaigned on the same core promises: to defend American jobs and demand fair trade for American workers; to rebuild and revitalize our Nation’s infrastructure; to reduce the price of healthcare and prescription drugs; to create an immigration system that is safe, lawful, modern and secure; and to pursue a foreign policy that puts America’s interests first.

There is a new opportunity in American politics, if only we have the courage to seize it. Victory is not winning for our party. Victory is winning for our country.

This year, America will recognize two important anniversaries that show us the majesty of America’s mission, and the power of American pride.

In June, we mark 75 years since the start of what General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the Great Crusade — the Allied liberation of Europe in World War II. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, 15,000 young American men jumped from the sky, and 60,000 more stormed in from the sea, to save our civilization from tyranny. Here with us tonight are three of those heroes: Private First Class Joseph Reilly, Staff Sergeant Irving Locker, and Sergeant Herman Zeitchik. Gentlemen, we salute you.

In 2019, we also celebrate 50 years since brave young pilots flew a quarter of a million miles through space to plant the American flag on the face of the moon. Half a century later, we are joined by one of the Apollo 11 astronauts who planted that flag: Buzz Aldrin. This year, American astronauts will go back to space on American rockets.

In the 20th century, America saved freedom, transformed science, and redefined the middle class standard of living for the entire world to see. Now, we must step boldly and bravely into the next chapter of this great American adventure, and we must create a new standard of living for the 21st century. An amazing quality of life for all of our citizens is within our reach.

We can make our communities safer, our families stronger, our culture richer, our faith deeper, and our middle class bigger and more prosperous than ever before.

But we must reject the politics of revenge, resistance, and retribution — and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise, and the common good.

Together, we can break decades of political stalemate. We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions, and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future. The decision is ours to make.

We must choose between greatness or gridlock, results or resistance, vision or vengeance, incredible progress or pointless destruction.

Tonight, I ask you to choose greatness.

Over the last 2 years, my Administration has moved with urgency and historic speed to confront problems neglected by leaders of both parties over many decades.

In just over 2 years since the election, we have launched an unprecedented economic boom — a boom that has rarely been seen before. We have created 5.3 million new jobs and importantly added 600,000 new manufacturing jobs — something which almost everyone said was impossible to do, but the fact is, we are just getting started.

Wages are rising at the fastest pace in decades, and growing for blue collar workers, who I promised to fight for, faster than anyone else. Nearly 5 million Americans have been lifted off food stamps. The United States economy is growing almost twice as fast today as when I took office, and we are considered far and away the hottest economy anywhere in the world. Unemployment has reached the lowest rate in half a century. African-American, Hispanic-American and Asian-American unemployment have all reached their lowest levels ever recorded. Unemployment for Americans with disabilities has also reached an all-time low. More people are working now than at any time in our history –- 157 million.

We passed a massive tax cut for working families and doubled the child tax credit.

We virtually ended the estate, or death, tax on small businesses, ranches, and family farms.

We eliminated the very unpopular Obamacare individual mandate penalty — and to give critically ill patients access to life-saving cures, we passed right to try.

My Administration has cut more regulations in a short time than any other administration during its entire tenure. Companies are coming back to our country in large numbers thanks to historic reductions in taxes and regulations.

We have unleashed a revolution in American energy — the United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world. And now, for the first time in 65 years, we are a net exporter of energy.

After 24 months of rapid progress, our economy is the envy of the world, our military is the most powerful on earth, and America is winning each and every day. Members of Congress: the State of our Union is strong. Our country is vibrant and our economy is thriving like never before.

On Friday, it was announced that we added another 304,000 jobs last month alone — almost double what was expected. An economic miracle is taking place in the United States — and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations.

If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn’t work that way!

We must be united at home to defeat our adversaries abroad.

This new era of cooperation can start with finally confirming the more than 300 highly qualified nominees who are still stuck in the Senate – some after years of waiting. The Senate has failed to act on these nominations, which is unfair to the nominees and to our country.

Now is the time for bipartisan action. Believe it or not, we have already proven that it is possible.

In the last Congress, both parties came together to pass unprecedented legislation to confront the opioid crisis, a sweeping new Farm Bill, historic VA reforms, and after four decades of rejection, we passed VA Accountability so we can finally terminate those who mistreat our wonderful veterans.

And just weeks ago, both parties united for groundbreaking criminal justice reform. Last year, I heard through friends the story of Alice Johnson. I was deeply moved. In 1997, Alice was sentenced to life in prison as a first-time non-violent drug offender. Over the next two decades, she became a prison minister, inspiring others to choose a better path. She had a big impact on that prison population — and far beyond.

Alice’s story underscores the disparities and unfairness that can exist in criminal sentencing — and the need to remedy this injustice. She served almost 22 years and had expected to be in prison for the rest of her life.

In June, I commuted Alice’s sentence — and she is here with us tonight. Alice, thank you for reminding us that we always have the power to shape our own destiny.

When I saw Alice’s beautiful family greet her at the prison gates, hugging and kissing and crying and laughing, I knew I did the right thing.

Inspired by stories like Alice’s, my Administration worked closely with members of both parties to sign the First Step Act into law. This legislation reformed sentencing laws that have wrongly and disproportionately harmed the African-American community. The First Step Act gives non-violent offenders the chance to re-enter society as productive, law-abiding citizens. Now, States across the country are following our lead. America is a Nation that believes in redemption.

We are also joined tonight by Matthew Charles from Tennessee. In 1996, at age 30, Matthew was sentenced to 35 years for selling drugs and related offenses. Over the next two decades, he completed more than 30 Bible studies, became a law clerk, and mentored fellow inmates. Now, Matthew is the very first person to be released from prison under the First Step Act. Matthew, on behalf of all Americans: welcome home.

As we have seen, when we are united, we can make astonishing strides for our country. Now, Republicans and Democrats must join forces again to confront an urgent national crisis.

The Congress has 10 days left to pass a bill that will fund our Government, protect our homeland, and secure our southern border.

Now is the time for the Congress to show the world that America is committed to ending illegal immigration and putting the ruthless coyotes, cartels, drug dealers, and human traffickers out of business.

As we speak, large, organized caravans are on the march to the United States. We have just heard that Mexican cities, in order to remove the illegal immigrants from their communities, are getting trucks and buses to bring them up to our country in areas where there is little border protection. I have ordered another 3,750 troops to our southern border to prepare for the tremendous onslaught.

This is a moral issue. The lawless state of our southern border is a threat to the safety, security, and financial well‑being of all Americans. We have a moral duty to create an immigration system that protects the lives and jobs of our citizens. This includes our obligation to the millions of immigrants living here today, who followed the rules and respected our laws. Legal immigrants enrich our Nation and strengthen our society in countless ways. I want people to come into our country, but they have to come in legally.

Tonight, I am asking you to defend our very dangerous southern border out of love and devotion to our fellow citizens and to our country.

No issue better illustrates the divide between America’s working class and America’s political class than illegal immigration. Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders while living their lives behind walls and gates and guards.

Meanwhile, working class Americans are left to pay the price for mass illegal migration — reduced jobs, lower wages, overburdened schools and hospitals, increased crime, and a depleted social safety net.

Tolerance for illegal immigration is not compassionate — it is cruel. One in three women is sexually assaulted on the long journey north. Smugglers use migrant children as human pawns to exploit our laws and gain access to our country.

Human traffickers and sex traffickers take advantage of the wide open areas between our ports of entry to smuggle thousands of young girls and women into the United States and to sell them into prostitution and modern-day slavery.

Tens of thousands of innocent Americans are killed by lethal drugs that cross our border and flood into our cities — including meth, heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl.

The savage gang, MS-13, now operates in 20 different American States, and they almost all come through our southern border. Just yesterday, an MS-13 gang member was taken into custody for a fatal shooting on a subway platform in New York City. We are removing these gang members by the thousands, but until we secure our border they’re going to keep streaming back in.

Year after year, countless Americans are murdered by criminal illegal aliens.

I’ve gotten to know many wonderful Angel Moms, Dads, and families – no one should ever have to suffer the horrible heartache they have endured.

Here tonight is Debra Bissell. Just three weeks ago, Debra’s parents, Gerald and Sharon, were burglarized and shot to death in their Reno, Nevada, home by an illegal alien. They were in their eighties and are survived by four children, 11 grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren. Also here tonight are Gerald and Sharon’s granddaughter, Heather, and great‑granddaughter, Madison.

To Debra, Heather, Madison, please stand: few can understand your pain. But I will never forget, and I will fight for the memory of Gerald and Sharon, that it should never happen again.

Not one more American life should be lost because our Nation failed to control its very dangerous border.

In the last 2 years, our brave ICE officers made 266,000 arrests of criminal aliens, including those charged or convicted of nearly 100,000 assaults, 30,000 sex crimes, and 4,000 killings.

We are joined tonight by one of those law enforcement heroes: ICE Special Agent Elvin Hernandez. When Elvin was a boy, he and his family legally immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic. At the age of eight, Elvin told his dad he wanted to become a Special Agent. Today, he leads investigations into the scourge of international sex trafficking. Elvin says: “If I can make sure these young girls get their justice, I’ve done my job.” Thanks to his work and that of his colleagues, more than 300 women and girls have been rescued from horror and more than 1,500 sadistic traffickers have been put behind bars in the last year.

Special Agent Hernandez, please stand: We will always support the brave men and women of Law Enforcement — and I pledge to you tonight that we will never abolish our heroes from ICE.

My Administration has sent to the Congress a commonsense proposal to end the crisis on our southern border.

It includes humanitarian assistance, more law enforcement, drug detection at our ports, closing loopholes that enable child smuggling, and plans for a new physical barrier, or wall, to secure the vast areas between our ports of entry. In the past, most of the people in this room voted for a wall — but the proper wall never got built. I’ll get it built.

This is a smart, strategic, see-through steel barrier — not just a simple concrete wall. It will be deployed in the areas identified by border agents as having the greatest need, and as these agents will tell you, where walls go up, illegal crossings go way down.

San Diego used to have the most illegal border crossings in the country. In response, and at the request of San Diego residents and political leaders, a strong security wall was put in place. This powerful barrier almost completely ended illegal crossings.

The border city of El Paso, Texas, used to have extremely high rates of violent crime — one of the highest in the country, and considered one of our Nation’s most dangerous cities. Now, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of our safest cities.

Simply put, walls work and walls save lives. So let’s work together, compromise, and reach a deal that will truly make America safe.

As we work to defend our people’s safety, we must also ensure our economic resurgence continues at a rapid pace.

No one has benefitted more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled 58 percent of the new jobs created in the last year. All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before — and exactly one century after the Congress passed the Constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote, we also have more women serving in the Congress than ever before.

As part of our commitment to improving opportunity for women everywhere, this Thursday we are launching the first ever Government-wide initiative focused on economic empowerment for women in developing countries.

To build on our incredible economic success, one priority is paramount — reversing decades of calamitous trade policies.

We are now making it clear to China that after years of targeting our industries, and stealing our intellectual property, the theft of American jobs and wealth has come to an end.

Therefore, we recently imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods — and now our Treasury is receiving billions of dollars a month from a country that never gave us a dime. But I don’t blame China for taking advantage of us — I blame our leaders and representatives for allowing this travesty to happen. I have great respect for President Xi, and we are now working on a new trade deal with China. But it must include real, structural change to end unfair trade practices, reduce our chronic trade deficit, and protect American jobs.

Another historic trade blunder was the catastrophe known as NAFTA.

I have met the men and women of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Hampshire, and many other States whose dreams were shattered by NAFTA. For years, politicians promised them they would negotiate for a better deal. But no one ever tried — until now.

Our new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement — or USMCA — will replace NAFTA and deliver for American workers: bringing back our manufacturing jobs, expanding American agriculture, protecting intellectual property, and ensuring that more cars are proudly stamped with four beautiful words: made in the USA.

Tonight, I am also asking you to pass the United States Reciprocal Trade Act, so that if another country places an unfair tariff on an American product, we can charge them the exact same tariff on the same product that they sell to us.

Both parties should be able to unite for a great rebuilding of America’s crumbling infrastructure.

I know that the Congress is eager to pass an infrastructure bill — and I am eager to work with you on legislation to deliver new and important infrastructure investment, including investments in the cutting edge industries of the future. This is not an option. This is a necessity.

The next major priority for me, and for all of us, should be to lower the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs — and to protect patients with pre-existing conditions.

Already, as a result of my Administration’s efforts, in 2018 drug prices experienced their single largest decline in 46 years.

But we must do more. It is unacceptable that Americans pay vastly more than people in other countries for the exact same drugs, often made in the exact same place. This is wrong, unfair, and together we can stop it.

I am asking the Congress to pass legislation that finally takes on the problem of global freeloading and delivers fairness and price transparency for American patients. We should also require drug companies, insurance companies, and hospitals to disclose real prices to foster competition and bring costs down.

No force in history has done more to advance the human condition than American freedom. In recent years we have made remarkable progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Scientific breakthroughs have brought a once-distant dream within reach. My budget will ask Democrats and Republicans to make the needed commitment to eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years. Together, we will defeat AIDS in America.

Tonight, I am also asking you to join me in another fight that all Americans can get behind: the fight against childhood cancer.

Joining Melania in the gallery this evening is a very brave 10-year-old girl, Grace Eline. Every birthday since she was 4, Grace asked her friends to donate to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She did not know that one day she might be a patient herself. Last year, Grace was diagnosed with brain cancer. Immediately, she began radiation treatment. At the same time, she rallied her community and raised more than $40,000 for the fight against cancer. When Grace completed treatment last fall, her doctors and nurses cheered with tears in their eyes as she hung up a poster that read: “Last Day of Chemo.” Grace — you are an inspiration to us all.

Many childhood cancers have not seen new therapies in decades. My budget will ask the Congress for $500 million over the next 10 years to fund this critical life-saving research.

To help support working parents, the time has come to pass school choice for America’s children. I am also proud to be the first President to include in my budget a plan for nationwide paid family leave — so that every new parent has the chance to bond with their newborn child.

There could be no greater contrast to the beautiful image of a mother holding her infant child than the chilling displays our Nation saw in recent days. Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth. These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world. And then, we had the case of the Governor of Virginia where he basically stated he would execute a baby after birth.

To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking the Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother’s womb.

Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life. And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth: all children — born and unborn — are made in the holy image of God.

The final part of my agenda is to protect America’s National Security.

Over the last 2 years, we have begun to fully rebuild the United States Military — with $700 billion last year and $716 billion this year. We are also getting other nations to pay their fair share. For years, the United States was being treated very unfairly by NATO — but now we have secured a $100 billion increase in defense spending from NATO allies.

As part of our military build-up, the United States is developing a state-of-the-art Missile Defense System.

Under my Administration, we will never apologize for advancing America’s interests.

For example, decades ago the United States entered into a treaty with Russia in which we agreed to limit and reduce our missile capabilities. While we followed the agreement to the letter, Russia repeatedly violated its terms. That is why I announced that the United States is officially withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF Treaty.

Perhaps we can negotiate a different agreement, adding China and others, or perhaps we can’t –- in which case, we will outspend and out-innovate all others by far.

As part of a bold new diplomacy, we continue our historic push for peace on the Korean Peninsula. Our hostages have come home, nuclear testing has stopped, and there has not been a missile launch in 15 months. If I had not been elected President of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea with potentially millions of people killed. Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong Un is a good one. And Chairman Kim and I will meet again on February 27 and 28 in Vietnam.

Two weeks ago, the United States officially recognized the legitimate government of Venezuela, and its new interim President, Juan Guaido.

We stand with the Venezuelan people in their noble quest for freedom — and we condemn the brutality of the Maduro regime, whose socialist policies have turned that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair.

Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence –- not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.

One of the most complex set of challenges we face is in the Middle East.

Our approach is based on principled realism — not discredited theories that have failed for decades to yield progress. For this reason, my Administration recognized the true capital of Israel — and proudly opened the American Embassy in Jerusalem.

Our brave troops have now been fighting in the Middle East for almost 19 years. In Afghanistan and Iraq, nearly 7,000 American heroes have given their lives. More than 52,000 Americans have been badly wounded. We have spent more than $7 trillion in the Middle East.

As a candidate for President, I pledged a new approach. Great nations do not fight endless wars.

When I took office, ISIS controlled more than 20,000 square miles in Iraq and Syria. Today, we have liberated virtually all of that territory from the grip of these bloodthirsty killers.