REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP
AT 2019 GOVERNORS’ BALL
February 24, 2019
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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.