Trump would host North Korea's Kim Jong Un to discuss nuclear program

WASHINGTON, June 15 (UPI) -- Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Wednesday he would attempt to negotiate a deal to curb North Korea's nuclear weapons program, though he said the odds are low he could succeed.

Trump told supporters at a rally in Atlanta he wants to stop North Korea from building nuclear weapons and long range missile systems, but that any such effort only bore a "10 percent or 20 percent chance" of success.

Trump stirred international concern last month when he suggested in an interview that South Korea and Japan should build their own nuclear arsenals so the United States would not have to offer protection on their behalf. He also said he would negotiate directly with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Trump did not back away from that stance Wednesday.

"Who the hell cares? I'll speak to anybody. Who knows?" Trump said.

Trump said any such negotiations with Kim or the North Korean military would not include formal state relations.

"I wouldn't go there, that I can tell you. If he came here, I'd accept him, but I wouldn't give him a state dinner like we do for China and all these other people that rip us off when we give 'em these big state dinners," Trump said. "We give them state dinners like you've never seen. We shouldn't have dinners at all. We should be eating a hamburger on a conference table, and we should make better deals with China and others."