Trump Plans to Meet North Korea’s Kim Jong Un Later This Year

US President Donald Trump says he plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year, signalling a renewed push to revive direct diplomacy with Pyongyang despite uncertainty over whether North Korea is prepared to return to negotiations.

Trump confirmed his intention to meet Kim when asked by reporters on Wednesday, saying he expected the encounter to take place before the end of the year. He did not announce a date or location for the proposed meeting.

The proposed summit would mark another attempt by Trump to revive the personal diplomacy that produced three meetings with Kim during his first term, including summits in Singapore and Hanoi and their 2019 encounter at the Korean Demilitarized Zone.

Those meetings failed to produce a lasting agreement on North Korea’s nuclear programme, with negotiations breaking down after the Hanoi summit in 2019.

Trump’s latest overture comes shortly after he ordered a significant reduction in US participation in joint military exercises with South Korea.

The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises have long been condemned by Pyongyang as preparations for an invasion. Trump has described the drills as unnecessarily provocative and has sought to use their reduction as part of a broader effort to reopen communication with Kim.

However, North Korea has shown little enthusiasm for the latest US gesture.

Kim Jong Un’s sister and senior adviser, Kim Yo Jong, said there had been no recent communication between Pyongyang and Washington, contradicting suggestions that active talks were already under way.

She nevertheless described the personal relationship between Trump and Kim as positive, leaving some room for the possibility of renewed engagement if Washington makes further concessions.

The uncertainty surrounding the proposed summit was underscored on Thursday when North Korea launched around 10 short-range ballistic missiles towards the sea, according to South Korean authorities. The launches came just hours after Trump’s announcement and while the US and South Korea continued their scaled-back military exercises.

Trump also claimed that North Korea possesses 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons, a specific figure that has not been publicly confirmed by the US government. Independent estimates have previously suggested that Pyongyang possesses enough fissile material for several dozen nuclear warheads, although estimates vary.

The potential meeting could take place against a substantially different geopolitical backdrop from Trump’s first-term summits with Kim. North Korea has continued developing its nuclear and missile capabilities while deepening strategic ties with Russia and China.

There has also been speculation that a meeting could be arranged around the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit scheduled for November in Shenzhen, China, although no such meeting has been formally announced.

For Trump, another meeting with Kim would offer an opportunity to revive one of the most high-profile diplomatic initiatives of his first presidency. But with Pyongyang showing little urgency to return to the negotiating table and continuing its weapons development, a new summit could face significant challenges.

For now, Trump’s statement represents an intention rather than a confirmed summit, with neither Washington nor Pyongyang announcing formal arrangements for a meeting.