- Trump offered Kim Jong Un a ride home to Air Force One, a new BBC series revealed.
- The two met for their second negotiation in Vietnam in 2019, which ended up failing.
- Trump said he could take Kim home in two hours, but the first declined the invitation.
- Visit the Business section of the Insider for more stories.
Former President Donald Trump offered North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a ride home to Air Force One after the two met for the second time at a summit in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2019, a new BBC documentary has revealed.
The three-part series, entitled “Trump Takes On the World”, reveals new details about how Trump and Kim negotiated North Korea’s nuclear program, which ended without a deal.
Trump, who had abruptly left the meeting, told the press at the time: “Sometimes it’s just walking.”
But the former president did not leave without first making an unusual offer.
“President Trump offered Kim a ride home to Air Force One,” Matthew Pottinger, Asia’s top expert on Trump’s National Security Council, told the BBC.
“The president knew that Kim had arrived on a multi-day train journey through China to Hanoi and said, ‘I can take you home in two hours, if you want.’ It was a graceful gesture, “he added.
Kim declined the offer, according to Pottinger.
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses supporters during a campaign rally at MBS International Airport in Freeland, Michigan, on September 10, 2020.
Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images
The BBC series also includes an interview with former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, who attended the summit.
Bolton said that as they drove to the meeting, Trump was confident he could strike a deal once he was in the room with Kim.
“Trump obviously thought he had a new best friend on Kim Jong Un,” said Bolton, who has since fallen out with Trump, according to the Sunday Times. “Trump thought that US-North Korea relations were great because he and Kim were friends. It’s a very dangerous perception.”
Kim and Trump ended up meeting for the third and last time in the Korean demilitarized zone three months later, but there was no further progress.
The pair had a complicated relationship during Trump’s four years as president.
Trump called North Korea’s leader “Little Rocket Man” and made threats of “fire and fury”, but then suggested that they were good friends and even described him as “a very smart guy”, according to the BBC.
“Trump Takes on the World”, directed by Tim Stirzaker, will be broadcast on BBC2 on Wednesday.