American President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he would “love to meet” communist North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un while on his current tour of Asia, which includes a final stop in South Korea.
“I haven’t mentioned it, I haven’t said anything, but I’d love to meet with him if he’d like to meet,” the Korea JoongAng Daily quoted Trump as saying on board Air Force One. Trump arrived in Malaysia on Sunday for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and left on Monday to Japan, where he met with Emperor Naruhito on Monday.
“I just have a good relationship with him, I would love to see him,” Trump said of Kim, suggesting he could go as far as to extend his itinerary in Asia should Pyongyang indicate Kim would like a meeting.
“It’s [South Korea] our last stop, so it’s pretty easy to do,” Trump noted about rescheduling.
North Korea, a totalitarian communist state imprisoning tens of thousands of people in camps for believing in Christianity or rejecting communism, is one of the world’s most overtly anti-communist states. During his first term in the White House, Trump prioritized negotiations to limit the threat that North Korea, which has illegally developed nuclear weapons, presents to neighboring South Korea and Japan, key Asian allies of Washington. These negotiations led to the two leaders meeting in person three times and Trump making history by becoming the first American president to step foot on North Korean soil in 2019.
File/North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump before a meeting in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on June 30, 2019, in Panmunjom, Korea. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
The progress towards civil relations abruptly ended in 2021 with the inauguration of former President Joe Biden, who Pyongyang for years had referred to as an “imbecile” suffering from “senility.” The Biden White House did not have a discernible policy on the Korean Peninsula during its four years, mostly ignoring the region other than hosting the South Korean pop group BTS to lead an initiative to “put a stop to” racism. Kim Jong-un personally appeared to retain warm feelings towards Trump, however, as acknowledged in state media. Kim notably sent a letter of well-wishing in 2024 shortly after Trump survived an assassination attempt while on the campaign trail.
“He sincerely hoped that they would be recovered as soon as possible. He hoped they will surely overcome it,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said of Kim’s letter at the time.
Trump has repeatedly throughout his second term suggested that he hopes circumstances allow for meeting Kim in person once again. His comments on Monday follow similar suggestions on Friday before landing in Malaysia.
“Well, I would if he would contact. The last time I met him, I put it out over the internet that I’m coming to South Korea and if he’d like to meet, I’m open to it. I’d do it,” Trump noted in those comments. “He probably knows I’m coming, right? If you want to put out the word, I’m open to it.”
Trump has previously said he was “100 percent” in favor of meeting Kim again.
The North Korean government has not given any indications publicly that Kim is considering planning a meeting with Trump. On the contrary, KCNA and other government propaganda vehicles have published throughout the weekend messages that Pyongyang is focusing on strengthening its relations with America’s most formidable enemies, namely Russia and China. Kim sent his top diplomat, Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, to Moscow this week for discussions on how to improve their bilateral ties. Choe celebrated during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday that the two countries’ relations had reached a “new height” since North Korea entered the Ukraine war theater, helping Russia combat Ukrainian troops in the region of Kursk, which Ukraine counter-invaded last year.
In Pyongyang, meanwhile, KCNA reported that Kim’s regime welcomed a “delegation of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army” (PLA) on Sunday, without offering details on the nature of the visit.
Kim’s last major public appearance occurred on Friday, attending a ceremony to mark the groundbreaking for a planned museum and cemetery honoring North Korea’s participation in the Ukraine invasion, the “Memorial Museum of Combat Feats.”
“Even the transfusion of a huge volume of blood by the United States and its Western bloc turned out futile in making the righteous blood in the vessels of the two peoples cool,” Kim boasted, referring to the Ukraine war, “and even the appalling atrocities by fascism could not dampen the phoenix-like fighting spirit and valour.”
“Pyongyang will always be with Moscow. Our friendship and unity will last forever,” he added at the time.
Kim and Trump met three times during the latter’s first term in office, once in Singapore, once on the inter-Korean border, and once in Hanoi, Vietnam. The Vietnam meeting in February 2019 ended abruptly with Trump walking out, declaring that the North Koreans were too intransigent in negotiations, demanding sanctions relief without accepting limits on their illicit nuclear development.
“Sometimes you have to walk and this was just one of those times,” Trump shrugged at the time.
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