President Donald Trump has floated the idea of hitting the golf course with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un if the upcoming Singapore summit goes well.
Trump has already been toying with the idea of a second summit with Kim at Mar-a-Lago if he has a successful summit in Singapore next week.
This naturally raised the possibility that Trump, who has golfed more than 100 times as president, would consider hitting the links with Kim, whom he has called ‘excellent’ and ‘very honorable’ since relations have thawed.
‘He has also discussed [possibly] golfing with Kim,” a senior administration official told the DailyBeast.
Kim Jong-un could score an invitation to play a round of golf with President Trump, according to a report
The comment followed a Bloomberg report that a Mar-a-Lago visit was on the table.
But the president himself said he ‘sadly’ would not be golfing with Kim in Singapore at the summit that starts June 12 in Singapore.
‘No. I’d love to, but no,’ he told reporters in the oval office.
Trump has golfed with allied leaders, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Kim’s father, Kim Jong-Il famously shot a 38-under par 34 in 1994, according to state-run North Korean media that was widely doubted in the West. The incredible performance included five hole-in-ones, and was witnessed by his 17-member armed bodyguards, according to reports from the hermetic nation, as the Star noted years later.
According to occasional golf partner Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, in a 2017 outing, Trump shot a ’73 in windy and wet conditions!’
Trump friend and former Fox News host Eric Bolling told the publication, asked about the prospect of Trump and Kim golfing: ‘I think that would be phenomenal—I think it would be a huge foreign policy win if President Trump got Kim Jong Un on a golf course, especially if he did it at Mar-a-Lago.’
President Trump could invite Kim to Mar-a-Lago if the summit is successful
View of the entrance of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on February 19, 2017
It wasn’t entirely clear from the source’s comment whether Trump had considered golfing at a second summit, or in Singapore.
The summit is being held at the Capella Hotel, which has two golf course, and where a three-bedroom colonial manor goes for $7,500 a night.
, a close Trump friend and former Fox News star, told The Daily Beast. “I think Trump would be seen as a larger-than-life, superpower president over the North Korean troublemaker. And a lot of business gets done on the golf course… I would love to see that match happen. And I would put my money on the president of the United States.”
TAKE TWO: If the Trump-Kim summit goes well in Singapore, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club could host a follow-up meeting
If the two leaders manage to get along, the White House dangled the possibility there could be a follow-up meeting at Trump’s favorite weekend getaway at Mar-a-Lago, Bloomberg News reports.
The follow-up talks could happen in the fall, when the club reopens after shuttering for the summer.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders referred to the Singapore summit as the ‘first meeting’ between the two men, and Trump has lowered expectations for any kind of breakthrough by calling it a ‘getting-to-know-you meeting, plus.’
Donald Trump plays a stroke as he officially opens his new multi-million pound Trump International Golf Links course in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on July 10, 2012
The U.S. is pushing North Korea to commit to denuclearize after it launched a series of provocative missile launches and nuclear tests. The North is seeking security guarantees from the U.S.
Trump has tempered expectations by saying, ‘We’ll see what happens’ at the summit
The president has said the trip is ‘coming along fine,’ though he has frequently hedged. ‘We’ll see what happens,’ Trump said.
The summit next week will be held at the luxurious Capella hotel on Sentosa Island.
Trump has used Mar-a-Lago to host other world leaders in the past, including hosting Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and China’s President Xi Jinping.
If things go well at the summit being held June 12 local time, there could be time for additional talks June 13.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has met with North Korea’s former spy chief in Pyongyang and in Washington, is slated to attend the Singapore meeting.
Mar-a-Lago was built by heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post in the 1920s along a stretch of the Atlantic.
The historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will be held at the Capella Hotel on Singapore’s Sentosa Island
The hotel in Singapore was originally built to house the British officers of the Royal Artillery and their families in the 1880s
It will have trouble keeping up with the Capella Hotel when it comes to amenities.
Surrounded by rainforest with peacocks for company, the leaders will gather in a 30-acre resort that has 112 rooms, all furnished with king beds, starting at $500 a night up to a three-bedroom colonial manor with a private pool for $7,500 a night.
Originally built to house the British officers of the Royal Artillery and their families in the 1880s, it was restored as a five-star hotel in 2009 by UK architect Norman Foster.
Facilities include a sunny portico and the circular Grand Ballroom with a glass-domed skylight and room for 400 guests, popular for wedding receptions that can cost up to $1,800 a table.
The resort is also a magnet for culture with about 900 works of art by 200 artists from 15 countries, French sculptor Bernar Venet’s The Arc on the front lawn, and a Nikolas Weinstein chandelier in the ballroom.