No Evidence Kim Jong Un Rebuffed Obama’s ‘Begging’

Prior to his historic meeting with Kim Jong Un in North Korea, President Donald Trump made the unfounded claim that Barack Obama tried many times to meet with Kim, but was rebuffed. Obama administration officials and experts on U.S.-North Korea relations say that’s not true, and Trump offered no evidence to back up his claim.

Trump’s comments were made in Seoul, South Korea, on June 30 just prior to what Trump described as a last-minute decision to meet Kim. Trump later took several steps across the border to shake hands with Kim, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea. Trump boasted that it was the kind of meeting Obama and his administration “were begging for … constantly” but that Kim refused.

: They couldn’t have meetings. Nobody was going to meet. President Obama wanted to meet, and Chairman Kim would not meet him. The Obama administration was begging for a meeting. They were begging for meetings constantly. And Chairman Kim would not meet with him. And for some