Remarks by President Trump and President Moon of the Republic of Korea Before One-on-One Bilateral Meeting

by Donald Trump, Moon Jae-in

Blue House
Seoul, Republic of Korea

3:39 P.M. KST

PRESIDENT MOON: (As interpreted.) As President of the United States, this is the first state visit to Korea in 25 years. And since the launch of my new administration, this is the first state visit that I’m receiving from overseas. I would like to warmly welcome you and Mrs. Trump both to Korea and to Cheong Wa Dae.

So I hope that I will have an opportunity to repay the warm hospitality that I received from you when I visited Washington, D.C. in June.

And I heard this past Sunday there was some tragic news from Texas. I believe that you would have the even more heavier heart because you were traveling overseas when this happened. On behalf of the Korean government and the Korean people, I would like to convey my heartfelt condolences to you, Mr. President, and the American people.

And also, I would like to congratulate you in advance. Tomorrow is your one-year anniversary of your election victory. And I believe it has not been one year yet, your time in office, but you have already — you are already making great progress on making America great again, as you have promised on the campaign trail.

And I would like to congratulate you on the progress that you’ve been making on the economy and also the fact that the stock market has continued to break new records every day. And thanks to that, the stock market in Korea is also performing very well. It is good to know that both of us are doing very well.

And I would also like to commend you on your efforts in leading the international collaboration and unity when it comes to countering North Korea nuclear issue. I know that you have put this issue at the top of your security agenda.

So I hope that your visit to Korea and to the Asia Pacific region will serve as an opportunity to relieve some of the anxiety that the Korean people have due to North Korea’s provocations, and also serve as a turning point in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.

The Korean people welcome you as one, and we have great expectations.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. President Moon, I want to thank you so much for that beautiful ceremony. It doesn’t get more beautiful than that, and I know the work that was put into it. And I watched all of those tens of thousands of people along the route in proudly waving your flag, your great flag, and also waving the American flag, in many cases. I was very happy to see such spirit. You have tremendous spirit in this country, and it’s a great country.

I just have to say that it’s an honor to be with you and your beautiful wife. And we look forward to having a very successful, really, day of talks. We’ll start right now and we’ll conclude sometime tomorrow. And then I go off to China, where we look forward to a tremendous success, also. We just left Japan, and there’s a great spirit. It’s a great part of the world, and it’s a very tremendous honor to be here and to be with you.

And again, I very much appreciate the reception. Thank you very much.

END
3:45 P.M. KST