Trump Officials Quietly Explore Potential Kim Jong Un Meeting During Upcoming Asia Trip

According to Rokna, citing CNN, the sources noted that no substantial logistical planning has yet been carried out, pointing out that there has not been any direct communication between Washington and Pyongyang, unlike during Trump’s first term. Earlier this year, Trump’s initial outreach to Kim went unanswered, as North Korea declined to accept his letter, according to two sources who spoke with CNN.

For this upcoming trip, the White House has primarily focused on arranging a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping amid rising U.S.-China trade tensions. Nevertheless, Trump has publicly and privately expressed interest in meeting Kim, leaving officials open to the possibility of a summit while he is in Asia.

During Trump’s first term, officials managed to arrange a handshake between Trump and Kim in the Korean Demilitarized Zone within 48 hours of a presidential tweet, illustrating how rapidly diplomatic plans can shift.

Trump’s interest in a potential meeting was reportedly sparked after hosting South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at the White House in August. During their discussions, Yoon invited Trump to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade ministers’ meeting in South Korea, suggesting that it could provide a prime opportunity for Trump to meet Kim. Trump indicated he would consider the idea.

“I will do that, and we’ll have talks. He’d like to meet with me,” Trump said of Kim. “We look forward to meeting with him and improving relations.”

Kim also signaled openness to meeting Trump in a speech before the North Korean parliament last month, according to state media. “Personally, I still have good memories of US President Trump,” Kim said. “If the U.S. abandons its hollow obsession with denuclearization and seeks peaceful coexistence with North Korea based on reality, there is no reason not to meet.”

Since Trump’s last encounter with Kim at Panmunjom in 2019, the situation has changed. South Korea played a key role in bringing North Korea to the table for that historic meeting, where Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea. Relations between the Koreas were warmer at the time. The new South Korean president has only been in office a few months and has yet to alter the policies of his predecessor, who was more critical of Kim’s regime.

According to South Korea’s Ministry of Unification, there is currently no active communication between the Koreas regarding a potential North Korea-U.S. summit. While U.S. security teams have conducted site visits in South Korea ahead of Trump’s arrival, none were in the Panmunjom area, suggesting a repeat of the 2019 summit is unlikely for now. The White House declined to comment.

A Hasty Handshake

High-profile meetings between Trump and Kim during his first term ultimately failed to achieve the president’s key objective of curbing North Korea’s nuclear program. Summits in Hanoi and Singapore involved extensive planning, focusing on both logistics and substance. Experts believe that any new summit would require similarly detailed arrangements.

Yet not all encounters between the two leaders involved prolonged preparation. Their final meeting in 2019 was hastily arranged after Trump tweeted an invitation to meet. This sudden initiative set the stage for a historic visit to the DMZ, during which Trump briefly stepped into North Korea.

At the time, no active communication had taken place between the two sides for months, and Trump left the Hanoi summit earlier that year without a deal, highlighting a breakdown in diplomatic efforts at the highest level.

“Sometimes you have to walk,” Trump said at a press conference following Hanoi. “This was just one of those times.”

Prior to his 2019 South Korea trip, former staffers had considered organizing another Trump-Kim meeting but decided against it, believing the timing was not right. That changed when Trump began expressing interest in a meeting while in Asia. After meeting Xi, Trump asked then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for input, and Pompeo agreed to investigate. The following morning, Trump tweeted his invitation.

“After some very important meetings, including with President Xi, I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say hello,” Trump tweeted.

Administration officials immediately scrambled to determine whether Kim would accept. Hours later, a North Korean media report indicated Pyongyang was open to the meeting, though the purpose was unclear. Officials interpreted this as a highly likely opportunity for a summit.

The U.S. activated the North Korea hotline at the DMZ, but calls went unanswered. Officials then used a bullhorn to communicate with the North Koreans at the border. Eventually, the hotline rang, inviting a U.S. delegation to meet in North Korea for planning. That delegation, which included Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, flew from Seoul to the DMZ the same night as Trump’s tweet, where they met for about an hour with North Korean counterparts.

Though no formal agreement was reached, the North Koreans requested a detailed proposal by midnight, which the U.S. faxed to Pyongyang. The following morning, North Korea sent a team to prepare its side of the Military Demarcation Line—a highly unusual move—before confirming that Kim would attend the meeting.

Trump then became the first sitting U.S. president to step into North Korea, meeting Kim for about an hour and shaking hands.