OSAKA, Japan (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump’s trip to Asia. (all times local):
8:45 p.m.
President Donald Trump is being welcomed to South Korea by its president - and one of its biggest K-pop boy bands.
Trump’s met with President Moon Jae-in (jah-YIHN’) at the Blue House, where the South Korean leader has his offices and home.
Trump also met EXO, a star pop group whose members gave the president a book. They also chatted with Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The president isn’t saying whether he’ll meet North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un (gihm jung oon) on Sunday at the heavily fortified South Korean-North Korean border known as the DMZ.
Trump is just saying “it will be very interesting” but he’s not giving other details about the surprise trip, which he announced earlier in the day on Twitter.
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7:10 p.m.
President Donald Trump has landed in South Korea, and a meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un (gihm jung oon) may be on his agenda.
Trump flew from Osaka, Japan, where he attended a global summit and held numerous meetings with world leaders, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin (POO’-tihn) and China’s Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng).
Trump has said he’ll visit the heavily-fortified demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea, and he’s invited Kim to join him “just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!”
Trump is also scheduled to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in (jah-YIHN’) while in Seoul.
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5:30 p.m.
President Donald Trump is not yet willing to remove the Chinese telecom giant Huawei (WAH’-way) from a trade blacklist.
But the president says he will now allow U.S. companies to sell components to Huawei again.
The fate of the company had become central in the ongoing US-China trade battle. Trump, attending an international summit in Japan, announced that negotiations between the two nations would resume.
But Trump says the company’s future would not be decided until the end of the trade talks.
He met with China’s President Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng) earlier Saturday but said that the topic of Meng Wanzhou, a Huawei executive held in Canada at the request of the United States, was not discussed.
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5:15 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he did warn Russian President Vladimir Putin (POO’-tihn) about interfering in upcoming U.S. elections.
Trump joked with Putin about the matter when they met Friday on the margins of a summit in Japan. Asked Saturday about his demeanor, Trump said to “take a look at the words. I did say it.”
Trump has been criticized for appearing unserious about Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Federal investigators recently found extensive interference by Russia in the election Trump won. Trump bristles at suggestions that he was elected with foreign help.
He previously has accepted Putin’s denials of meddling, and noted again Saturday that “he denies it totally.”
Trump said he’s giving “very serious consideration” to visiting Moscow next spring for the 75th anniversary of the Nazi defeat.
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4:55 p.m.
President Donald Trump is weighing in on Thursday evening’s Democratic presidential debate and arguing that California Sen. Kamala (KAH’-mah-lah) Harris has gotten too much credit for a blistering attack on former Vice President Joe Biden.
Trump is offering his assessment during a news conference marking the end of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
Harris has been widely praised for her move highlighting Biden’s opposition to public school busing during the 1970s. But Trump says he thinks she “was given far too much credit for what she did” and says her answer came “right out of a box.”
Trump also says Biden was no Winston Churchill - a reference to the great orator - but argued his performance wasn’t that bad.
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4:45 p.m.
President Donald Trump is defending his decision not to confront Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Bin Salman over the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi (jah-MAHL’ khahr-SHOHK’-jee).
Trump is praising Mohammed as his “friend” as they met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan. Trump has ignored reporters’ questions about the crown prince’s alleged role in the killing last year.
Trump is calling the killing “horrible,” but says that Saudi Arabia has “been a terrific ally.” He’s also suggesting he’s satisfied with steps the country is taking to prosecute some of those involved, while claiming that “nobody so far has pointed directly a finger at the future king of Saudi Arabia.”
A U.N. expert has called for an investigation into his alleged involvement in the killing at the Saudi consulate in Turkey last year. U.S. intelligence officials concluded that bin Salman must have at least known of the plot.
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4:30 p.m.
President Donald Trump says Jimmy Carter is a “nice man” but he was “terrible” as America’s president.
Trump is hitting back at Carter after he was asked about Carter’s comment that Trump is president only because of Russian interference. Carter commented during a human rights discussion in Virginia, but offered no evidence for his statement.
Trump says he was elected because he worked “harder and smarter” than his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
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4:25 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he’d “feel very comfortable” crossing the border into North Korea if he meets Kim Jong Un (gihm jung oon) at the heavily-fortified Korean Demilitarized Zone separating the North from South Korea.
Trump was asked about the prospect during a news conference in Japan marking the end of a Group of 20 summit.
Trump earlier Saturday invited Kim by tweet to meet him at the border, “just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!” It would be their third face-to-face.
Trump says he’d “have no problem” becoming the first U.S. president to cross the border while he’s there.
Trump and Kim last met in Vietnam in February, but that summit collapsed with no progress.
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4:20 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he’s holding off on new China tariffs for the “time being” and the U.S. and China will restart stalled trade talks.
Trump made the announcement Saturday in Japan following a lengthy meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng). He says U.S. tariffs already in place against Chinese imports will remain, but that new tariffs he’s threatened to slap on billions worth of other Chinese goods will not be put in place.
Trump says “we’re going to work with China where we left off.”
Talks broke off after several rounds of negotiations after the U.S. accused China of reneging on agreements it had already made.
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4:15 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he may be meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un (gihm jung oon) on Sunday during a visit to the demilitarized zone with South Korea. But he says nothing has been set just yet.
Trump offered the update during a news conference as he wrapped up his appearance at the Group of 20 summit in Japan hours after tweeting his invitation.
Trump says Kim has responded to the offer and was “very receptive” to the idea. He says: “We may be meeting with Chairman Kim… we’ll find out.”
It’s unclear whether Trump was referring to a private communication or public comments from North’s First Vice Foreign Minister, Choe Son Hui, who called the prospect of a meeting a “very interesting suggestion.”
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