Trump-Kim reunion? US President pushes for fresh North Korea talks

In a bid to revive one of the most dramatic diplomatic initiatives of his first term, US President Donald Trump is reportedly pushing his aides to arrange an in-person summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as early as this November.Trump has privately discussed the possibility of meeting Kim during his next trip to Asia, with a potential opportunity coming in November when he is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China, the Wall Street Journal reported.The renewed push comes days after Trump announced a cutback in a joint US-South Korea military exercise and explicitly cited his relationship with Kim.No formal arrangements for a Trump-Kim summit have been made, and it remains unclear whether Pyongyang would agree to such a meeting. A White House official said Trump and Kim would meet "at an appropriate time". During his first term, Trump and Kim held three meetings, beginning with their historic 2018 Singapore summit, where they became the first sitting US and North Korean leaders to meet and pledged to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. Their second summit, in Hanoi in February 2019, ended abruptly without an agreement over differences on sanctions relief and denuclearisation.In June 2019, the two held an impromptu meeting at the Demilitarised Zone, where Trump briefly crossed into North Korea, becoming the first sitting US president to set foot in the country. Trump's latest comments on military exercises with South Korea have added to speculation that he is preparing the ground for renewed diplomacy with Pyongyang.Earlier this week, while announcing that the US would reduce the scale of a joint military drill with South Korea, Trump said the decision was partly influenced by his "very good relationship with Kim Jong Un".The US President, however, gave a different explanation when questioned about the decision later, saying South Korea's position on the Strait of Hormuz had also played a role. Trump also confirmed that Kim had responded to his recent outreach, without disclosing what the North Korean leader had said.The reduction in military exercises is significant because similar moves were made during Trump's first presidency as Washington tried to create an atmosphere for negotiations with Pyongyang. North Korea has long regarded the US-South Korea military exercises as a direct security threat and has routinely demanded their cancellation.Meanwhile, South Korea has welcomed the prospect of renewed US engagement with its rival neighbour, North Korea. Its embassy in Washington said it hoped the relationship between Trump and Kim would help create meaningful dialogue and improve stability on the Korean Peninsula.TRUMP DEALING WITH A DIFFERENT NORTH KOREAAny new Trump-Kim talks would take place under circumstances that are markedly different from those of Trump's first term, according to experts.When Trump first entered into diplomacy with the authoritarian Communist nation, the central US objective was to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons programme. That remains Washington's stated position. But North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities have expanded substantially since then.The US intelligence authorities have pointed out in its annual threat assessment earlier this year that Pyongyang continues to expand its strategic weapons programmes, including its nuclear warheads and missile capabilities.A senior Pentagon official told Congress in April that North Korea's nuclear forces were becoming increasingly capable of threatening the US mainland, while its missile forces could target South Korea and Japan.Estimates of the size of North Korea's nuclear stockpile have also risen. Earlier assessments put its arsenal at several dozen warheads, but Stanford University nuclear expert Jeffrey Lewis, speaking to the Wall Street Journal, argued that those figures are now outdated and that Pyongyang could possess a nuclear arsenal numbering in the low hundreds.STRONGER RUSSIA, CHINA TIESAnother major difference is Pyongyang's growing strategic relationship with Moscow and stronger ties with Beijing.North Korea has supplied military support to Russia for its war in Ukraine and sent thousands of troops, according to officials and assessments cited by Western governments. The cooperation has provided Pyongyang with a closer relationship with a major military power and, potentially, valuable battlefield experience.Kim has also repeatedly stressed the importance of ties with Russia.At the same time, North Korea continues to maintain close relations with China. Kim met Chinese President Xi Jinping in June, while Xi is expected to travel to Washington for a summit with Trump in September.Kim is also expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin later this year, according to US and foreign officials.- EndsPublished On: Aug 19, 2026 08:38 IST