US President Donald Trump has said that he hopes to hold a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year, signalling a potential revival of high-stakes diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, during his meeting with visiting South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, Trump emphasised that he continues to share a ‘very good relationship’ with Kim.
“I get along with him really well. I think he has a country of great potential, tremendous potential,” Trump said.
During his first presidential term, Trump and Kim held three historic meetings.
The first came in Singapore in June 2018, marking the first-ever summit between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader. The two met again in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February 2019, though talks collapsed over disagreements on sanctions relief and denuclearisation measures.
Their third encounter occurred in June 2019 at Panmunjom, inside the inter-Korean Demilitarised Zone, where Trump briefly crossed into North Korean territory, a symbolic moment that underscored his unconventional approach to diplomacy.
Despite these unprecedented engagements, negotiations ultimately stalled, with Pyongyang resuming weapons development and Washington maintaining sanctions.
Praise & Provocation from South Korean President Lee
In the Oval Office meeting, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung not only praised Trump’s past diplomacy but also playfully suggested new avenues for engagement.
Lee remarked, “I hope you can bring peace to the Korean Peninsula, the only divided nation in the world, so that you can meet with Kim Jong Un, build a Trump World (real-estate complex) in North Korea so that I can play golf there, and so that you can truly play a role as a world-historical peacemaker.”
Lee also suggested that if Trump had remained in office, North Korea’s nuclear programme might not have advanced as significantly. His comments highlighted Seoul’s interest in renewed US involvement in easing tensions on the peninsula.
While Trump’s remarks have rekindled speculation about a fresh round of US-North Korea dialogue, the path forward remains uncertain.
Kim Jong Un has continued to accelerate weapons testing in recent years, and relations between Pyongyang and Washington have cooled since Trump left office.
Nevertheless, Trump’s indication of a possible meeting suggests that his administration may once again pursue high-profile summitry as a means of addressing one of the world’s most intractable security challenges.
Whether this initiative leads to a breakthrough or another diplomatic stalemate will depend on how both Washington and Pyongyang navigate the delicate balance between sanctions, security guarantees, and denuclearisation commitments.
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