US President Donald Trump has confirmed that he intends to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year, signalling a possible return to the high-profile personal diplomacy that defined Washington's engagement with Pyongyang during Trump's first term.
Trump made the announcement while speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday. Asked directly whether he expected to meet Kim before the end of 2026, the US President replied in the affirmative, although he did not disclose when or where such a meeting could take place.
The prospective meeting would be the first between Trump and Kim since the American leader returned to the White House for his second term. It would also come at a markedly different moment for security on the Korean Peninsula, with North Korea having continued to develop its nuclear and missile capabilities since the two leaders last met in 2019.
Trump points to personal equation with Kim
Trump again emphasised his relationship with the North Korean leader, saying he knew Kim well and expressing confidence in his ability to deal with Pyongyang. Personal diplomacy has long been central to Trump's approach towards North Korea, even when formal negotiations between the two governments have struggled to produce lasting results.
The US President also made an unusually specific claim about Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal, saying North Korea possessed 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons. Public estimates of the country's nuclear stockpile vary, while official US assessments of the precise number are not normally disclosed.
Trump's latest remarks follow indications that he has been trying to reopen communication with Kim. Earlier this week, he said the North Korean leader had responded to his outreach and characterised their exchanges as positive, without revealing details of what had been communicated.
Military drills scaled back
The diplomatic overture has coincided with changes to joint US-South Korean military exercises, which Pyongyang has repeatedly condemned as preparations for an invasion.
Trump recently ordered a reduction in the exercises, arguing that they were costly and unnecessarily hostile towards North Korea. The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise has subsequently been shortened, although Washington and Seoul continue their longstanding defence partnership.
North Korea has not publicly confirmed that a Trump-Kim summit has been agreed. Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader's influential sister, has also criticised the continuing military exercises and disputed suggestions about recent communication between the two sides.
Three historic meetings, but no nuclear deal
Trump and Kim met three times during the US President's first term. Their first summit in Singapore in June 2018 marked the first meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader. They met again in Hanoi in February 2019, but that summit ended without an agreement after the two sides failed to bridge differences over sanctions relief and denuclearisation.
Their third encounter came at the Korean Demilitarized Zone in June 2019, when Trump briefly crossed into North Korea and became the first sitting US president to enter the country. Despite the extraordinary symbolism surrounding those meetings, subsequent negotiations failed to produce an agreement restricting North Korea's nuclear programme.
A fourth meeting would therefore reopen a diplomatic channel that has produced striking images but limited progress on the central nuclear question.
Reports suggest Trump has been pressing aides to explore another meeting, potentially around his expected travel to Asia later this year. No formal date or venue has been announced, however, leaving the timing — and whether Pyongyang will ultimately agree to the encounter — unresolved.