Stewards of the Visual Exposition
Remarks by President Trump in Press Conference | Hanoi, Vietnam
Press Release:
JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi • Hanoi, Vietnam • February 28, 2019 • 2:15 P.M. ICT
President Trump speaking at his last news conference in Hanoi, Vietnam: Above. (White House photo) Click image to expand.
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.
Go Back
JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi • Hanoi, Vietnam • February 28, 2019 • 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.
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