US President Donald Trump has said he plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, raising the possibility of a new attempt to reopen diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump said he knew Kim “very well” and believed their relationship could help keep tensions under control. He did not announce a date or location for the meeting.
“The fact that I get along with him that’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump said during a tour of a new helipad being built at the White House, according to Reuters.
Trump also claimed that North Korea possessed 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons. He criticised previous governments for allowing Pyongyang to develop its nuclear arsenal, saying he would not have permitted it if he had been president earlier.
Experts have offered different estimates of North Korea’s nuclear strength. A June assessment by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said Pyongyang may have assembled about 60 warheads and could possess enough fissile material to produce at least 30 more.
Trump’s comments came days after he ordered the Pentagon to reduce joint military exercises with South Korea. He said the drills sent an “inappropriate and hostile” message to Pyongyang, which he described as respectful and unthreatening during his presidency. The exercises were shortened from 11 days to five, while some live training was replaced by simulations.
Trump and Kim held three meetings during Trump’s first term, including a historic encounter at the Demilitarised Zone in 2019. Trump became the first sitting US president to step into North Korea.
Their relationship later cooled, however, and negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear programme broke down. During that period, Kim once insulted Trump as a “mentally deranged US dotard”, while Trump and Kim exchanged threats involving nuclear weapons.
A new meeting could reopen a difficult diplomatic path, but neither Pyongyang nor Washington has officially confirmed a date or formal agenda.
