Trump Hints at Possible Meeting With North Korean Leader

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Oct. 12 that he might meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his planned visit to Asia next month.

Asked by a reporter whether he expects to meet Kim during the trip, Trump said: “I may. That will be exciting, won’t it? But I get along with him.”

The president is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, scheduled for Nov. 18–19.

The Epoch Times reached out to the White House for further details but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Trump said in August he planned to meet Kim later this year but gave no details.

“He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons,” Trump told reporters on Aug. 19. “We should have never have allowed it to happen. If I were president, I wouldn’t have let it happen, but he’s got them.”

Trump met with Kim three times in 2018 and 2019 during his first term. Negotiations over Pyongyang’s nuclear program collapsed in 2019 due to disagreements over North Korea’s denuclearization efforts and the easing of U.S.-led sanctions.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been rising over the years because of North Korea’s repeated missile tests.

The United States, South Korea, and Japan, in response, have enhanced their deterrence strategies and expanded their joint military drills, which the North Korean leader portrays as invasion rehearsals.

The North Korean leader said earlier this year that relations with the United States could improve if Washington abandoned what he called a hostile policy against Pyongyang, state media KCNA reported on Feb. 26.

Kim said the country would never give up its nuclear weapons and ruled out the possibility of engaging in talks with South Korea.

North Korea unveiled a new defense industry museum featuring various weapons, including the Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile, on Oct. 11.

A display in front of the Hwasong-20 launcher appeared to show a world map depicting ranges extending beyond ​the U.S. mainland to the Middle East, Australia, and South America, said Shin Jong-woo, secretary general of the Korea Defense and Security Forum.

“The exhibition appears intended to highlight the achievements of Kim’s defence science development programme,” ‌Shin ⁠said. “It gave the impression of propaganda aimed at gaining a strategic advantage ahead of a potential North Korea–US summit.”

Kim attended the opening ceremony alongside his wife and daughter, according to state media.

North Korea fired several missiles toward the sea off its eastern coast on Oct. 12, with one projectile traveling more than 559 miles, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The South Korean military said it has strengthened surveillance to prepare for additional launches and remained on an all-out readiness posture, adding that it would share relevant information with the United States and Japan.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense also detected the launch, saying that the projectiles landed near North Korea’s east coast or in the Sea of Japan. The ministry said it was assessing whether the missiles had violated Japan’s territorial waters or exclusive economic zone.

North Korea’s missile launches came just days after South Korea launched its first hypersonic glide vehicle on Oct. 8. South Korean presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said the launch was successful and that it marked a major milestone in securing a new deterrent.

Jill McLaughlin, Evgenia Filimianova, Guy Birchall, and Reuters contributed to this report.