Trump pushes back over Trump N. Korea quote

US President Donald Trump pushed back at a report that he had suggested he had a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, saying he had been misquoted.

The Wall Street Journal quoted Trump as saying in an interview Thursday: "I probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong-Un."

But the White House insisted he said "I'd," not "I", and Trump followed up in a tweet on Sunday.

"Obviously I didn't say that. I said 'I'd have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un,' a big difference. Fortunately we now record conversations with reporters," he tweeted.

"And they knew exactly what I said and meant. They just wanted a story. FAKE NEWS!"

Both The Wall Street Journal and the White House posted audio recordings of Trump's remarks on Twitter.

These, while not completely clear, appeared to support White House press secretary Sarah Sanders' account. She had earlier tweeted a written message disputing the newspaper's article.

"President Trump said, I'D probably have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un of North Korea. I'D -- I'D -- I'D. NOT I!" the message read, with "I'D" in red ink, under a red banner reading "FAKE NEWS."

Mockingly mimicking the newspaper's front page, it then reads "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL -- FAKE NEWS IS AT IT AGAIN! -- FALSELY QUOTING PRESIDENT TRUMP."

Washington and Pyongyang are in a standoff over North Korea's missile and nuclear programs, which could be used to target the United States and its allies.

Trump has repeatedly insulted the North Korean leader, describing him as mad and a "rocket man."

Asked by The Wall Street Journal if he had spoken to Kim, Trump said: "I don't want to comment on it. I'm not saying I have or haven't. I just don't want to comment."

Trump suggested his variable position on individuals was part of a broader strategy.

But it was not clear how his remarks fitted with his self-described policy of "maximum pressure" on Pyongyang.

In the coming week the United States and Canada are to host a meeting in Vancouver on the nuclear standoff with North Korea, bringing together friendly powers from around the world.

Japan's Abe seeks Baltic support against North Korea
Vilnius (AFP) Jan 13, 2018 - Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday urged Baltic NATO states to support pressure on North Korea, as he hammered home his hawkish message that Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes pose a global threat.

Despite a recent cooling of tensions in the run-up to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, Shinzo Abe has insisted on "maximising pressure" on the North.

"We should work closely together to maintain and strengthen a rule of law-based international order on North Korea, which is now a threat to the global community", Abe told reporters in Lithuania's capital Vilnius.

His Lithuanian counterpart Saulius Skvernelis voiced support as did Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis with whom Abe met earlier in the day in Latvia's capital Riga.

Briefing reporters, Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Norio Maruyama said that although the threat posed by Pyongyang was "unprecedented", the full implementation of UN sanctions would have "a very strong effect on North Korea."

New UN sanctions passed against North Korea last month ban the supply of nearly 75 percent of refined oil products to Pyongyang and cap crude deliveries among other measures.

Abe kicked off his visit in fellow Baltic eurozone state Estonia on Friday, where he also discussed deepening cybersecurity and economic ties.

Japan is keen to raise its profile in the region as China bolsters its ties there.

China is pushing its massive $1 trillion "One Belt, One Road" initiative, which seeks to build rail, maritime and road links from Asia to Europe and Africa in a revival of ancient Silk Road trading routes.

On Sunday Abe will head to Lithuania's second largest city Kaunas to pay tribute to Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who saved 6,000 European Jews from the Holocaust by issuing visas to allow them to escape war-torn Lithuania.

Abe is the first sitting Japanese leader to visit the Baltic states and will also visit Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania before returning to Tokyo Wednesday.

Trump's 'madman' rhetoric may have scared N. Korea to talks: analysts
Seoul (AFP) Jan 11, 2018
US President Donald Trump's notoriously threatening rhetoric towards nuclear-armed North Korea - which has drawn comparisons with Richard Nixon's "madman theory" of diplomacy - may deserve some credit for bringing Pyongyang to talks, analysts have said. The two Koreas held their first official dialogue in more than two years this week, agreeing the North would send its athletes to next mon ... read more

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