US president Donald Trump has invited North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to shake hands at the Korean demilitarised zone (DMZ) – via Twitter.
Trump is scheduled to visit South Korea later on Saturday after meetings at the G20 in Osaka, Japan.
The president tweeted on Saturday morning: “I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!”
He later said of the invitation: “All I did is put out a feeler if you’d like to meet,” adding he was not sure of Kim’s location.
“I said if Chairman Kim would want I’d meet, I’ll be at the border.”
North Korea said Trump’s offer was a “very interesting suggestion”.
The North’s first vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui said that the meeting, if realised, would serve as “another meaningful occasion in further deepening the personal relations between the two leaders and advancing the bilateral relations”.
Choe said North Korea had not received an official proposal for the DMZ meeting from the United States.
Trump also said he wants to inspect the heavily-fortified demilitarised zone as an example of what a “real border” looks like.
He made curtailing illegal immigration and building a wall on the US-Mexico border a central theme of his 2016 campaign, though he has struggled to fulfil his pledge.
“By the way, when you talk about a wall when you talk about a border, that’s what they call a border. Nobody goes through that border,” he said.
“That’s called a real border.”