Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Will Trump, Kim reprise 2019 ad hoc meeting?
U.S. President Donald Trump, right, gestures as he meets North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un at the start of their summit at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore, June 12, 2018. AFP-Yonhap
By Anna J. Park
Seoul, Washington remain cautious amid reports of possible Trump-Kim meeting
Anticipation is rising again over a possible meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this month during Trump’s visit to South Korea for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit events.
Although there has been no confirmation of such a meeting, the chance of one happening cannot be written off, considering their previous meeting in 2019 took place with less than two days’ preparation after the U.S. president floated the offer via social media.
The South Korean presidential office said Sunday that Seoul will maintain “close communication and coordination” with Washington regarding any potential U.S.-North Korea dialogue during Trump’s upcoming visit here.
The statement came after a CNN report on Saturday (local time), citing sources familiar with the matter, said, “Trump administration officials have privately discussed setting up a meeting between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.”
Trump has shown his willingness to talk with Kim, especially after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, during his summit with Trump in August, proposed that the U.S. leader come for the APEC summit and hold a meeting with Kim on the sidelines of the event.
Kim said in September that he has a “good memory” about his previous talks with Trump and “if the U.S. gives up its obsession with denuclearization, there’s no reason not to meet face to face.”
Despite growing attention, however, both Seoul and Washington continue to take a cautious stance over whether another Trump-Kim meeting could actually take place.
The CNN report added that no logistical steps or direct communication with Pyongyang had yet begun. Officials cited in the report were said to remain skeptical about such talks.
South Korean Ambassador to the U.S. Kang Kyung-wha speaks during a parliamentary audit session of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, held at the Korean Mission to the United Nations in New York, Friday (local time). Yonhap
South Korean Ambassador to the U.S. Kang Kyung-wha told lawmakers during a parliamentary audit session held at the Korean Mission to the United Nations in New York on Friday that there were “no signs yet” of a Trump-Kim meeting.
National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac echoed that sentiment Thursday, saying, “The possibility of a U.S.-North Korea summit is uncertain. It’s ultimately a matter between the U.S. and North Korea. We’re monitoring through U.S. channels, but as far as we know, nothing has been confirmed.”
Another official from the presidential office said on Sunday, “South Korea and the U.S. have consistently maintained that they are open to dialogue with North Korea in pursuit of peace on the Korean Peninsula and resolution of the nuclear issue.”
Meanwhile, international affairs experts said there is little chance that Pyongyang will accept dialogue with Trump during the APEC summit period.
“It’s hard to rule anything out completely, given the unpredictability of the Trump administration. But judging by North Korea’s recent behavior and its current perceptions, the possibility seems very slim,” said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
He explained that Washington has offered no clear message — declarative or otherwise — that it will recognize North Korea as a nuclear state or take denuclearization off the table, which are Pyongyang’s key demands.
According to Hong, Pyongyang may now see such a meeting as more beneficial to Trump than to itself.
“Back in 2019, Kim used such an encounter to show he was powerful enough for the U.S. president to come to him. Now, timing and circumstances favor Pyongyang (so that the North does not need a meeting with Trump as much as it did back in the late 2010s), and attending such a meeting would only make Kim appear to be Trump’s prop, serving only Trump's interests,” he noted.
Hong dismissed the likelihood of a meeting either at the APEC summit or in the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas, citing North Korea’s current reluctance to engage in events involving South Korea or under U.N. Command jurisdiction.
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young speaks during the parliamentary audit of his ministry by the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee in Seoul, Oct. 14. Yonhap
However, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young expressed a more optimistic view during a National Assembly hearing and also at a public event on Oct. 12.
“In June 2019, the Panmunjeom meeting happened just 30 hours after a single tweet [by Trump] from Osaka,” Chung said. “There’s no rule saying something similar couldn’t happen again at the last minute.”
He emphasized that “the key lies in President Trump’s decision,” adding that if a summit were to happen, “Panmunjeom remains the most likely venue.”