REP. WARD CALLS FOR SECOND TRUMP-KIM SUMMIT IN WAIKIKI

News Release from Office of Rep Gene Ward January 7,  2019 

HONOLULU, HI – In light of the White House's present consideration of a second U.S.-North Korea Summit in Hawaii, Representative Gene Ward (R-17, Hawaii Kai to Kalama Valley), who invited the President in March 2018 to host peace talks in Hawaii, released the following statement:

"Known around the world for the Aloha Spirit and ranked the happiest State in the Union, I can think of no better place to talk peace in the Pacific than in Hawaii.

"Hawaii successfully hosted 21 Asia-Pacific nations on the world stage at APEC USA 2011 and is the proud home of the renown diplomatic institutions of the East-West Center, the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, and the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace & Conflict Resolution.

"My dream has been that Hawaii will become the 'Geneva of the Pacific,' and I believe this summit will show the power of the Aloha Spirit in the international arena."

In March 2018, Representative Ward wrote to President Trump (letter attached) suggesting that Hawaii host the first U.S.-North Korean summit. Two months later, the White House announced that the meeting would be held in Singapore. Shortly after Rep. Ward's letter to the President, Midweek, a local newspaper, published the attached and embedded cartoon satirizing Ward's dream of a Trump-Kim meeting in Honolulu. Ward has not abandoned that dream and looks forward to the Administration's definitive consideration of Hawaii as the Second Summit host.

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PDF: Ward Letter to Trump Jan 11, 2019

March, 2018: Ward: Trump, Kim Should Meet in Hawaii

CNN: US scouts Bangkok, Hanoi and Hawaii as possible locations for Kim-Trump summit