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US President Donald Trump has repeatedly extended invitations to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un along with his visit to South Korea.
While officials in Seoul have reportedly supported these proposals, Pyongyang has maintained public radio silence, with no concrete summit preparations confirmed.
This comes after North Korea tested a new hypersonic ballistic missile just before President Trump’s departure from the US. President Trump has taken advantage of his current Asian tour to underline their willingness to engage Aiming to revive the series of summits held during his first term, with the North Korean dictator.
“I had a good relationship with him,” Trump said Monday. “If he wants to, I’d love to meet with him, if he even gets this message. We haven’t mentioned anything, but he knows I’m going there. If he wants to meet, I’d love to meet with him.”
Asked what he could use to bring Kim to the table, Trump said restrictions,
“It’s a big deal for a start,” he said. “I would say it’s as big as you can imagine.”
The pair held summits in 2018 and 2019 before talks broke down over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons arsenal. North Korea is under heavy international sanctions over those weapons as well as its ballistic missiles.
Last month, Kim signaled openness to meeting Trump, ruling out any talks with South Korea if the US drops demands to give up its nuclear arsenal.
“Personally, I still have memories of US President Trump,” he said in a speech, according to state media outlet Korean Central News Agency. “If the United States would make us give up our absurd obsession with denuclearization and accept reality, and want genuine peaceful coexistence, then there is no reason for us not to sit with the United States.”
However, there is no indication that negotiations will take place. A US official said he considered a trip to the demilitarized zone on the border of South and North Korea, but never set an itinerary.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June and has tried to ease tensions with the North, has proposed that Trump use his visit to South Korea to talk with Kim.
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who handles relations with the North, said Pyongyang was likely to issue a statement on Trump’s talks offer on Tuesday or Wednesday.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told parliament on Tuesday that Trump calling North Korea a “nuclear power” and the possibility of sanctions relief could provide incentive for Kim to come to the negotiating table.
“However, compared to 2017 and 2018, North Korea has formed a military alliance with Russia and strengthened its relations with China,” he said.
North Korea’s foreign countries on Monday Minister meets Russian President Vladimir Putin,
Putin and Kim signed a strategic partnership treaty last year that included a mutual defense pact, and North Korea has sent troops, artillery, ammunition and missiles to Russia to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
In Tokyo on Tuesday, Trump met with the families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea decades ago.