Trump says he expects to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un this year

President Trump said Wednesday that he expects to meet again with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year. His comments followed a report by the Wall Street Journal that said he was hoping to have such a meeting organized soon, possibly around the November APEC summit in Shenzhen, China. 

Asked by a reporter at the White House if he expects to meet with Kim later this year, Mr. Trump replied, “Yeah, I will be.”

The White House has not confirmed plans for a meeting, nor has Pyongyang. 

Mr. Trump plans to attend the APEC summit and has directed his aides to make contact with the North Korean regime, the Journal reported, adding that the president hoped to restart talks aimed at getting Kim to abandon his country’s nuclear weapons program.

The two leaders met three times to discuss denuclearization during Mr. Trump’s first term, but the summits yielded virtually nothing. Since then, North Korea has expanded its nuclear weapons program, and analysts believe the totalitarian regime now has dozens of nuclear warheads.

Far from signaling any willingness to abandon the program, Kim has said he wants the U.S. and the wider international community to recognize North Korea as a nuclear power, and he has ruled out engaging in any talks based on the premise of denuclearization.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Mr. Trump said he knows the North Korean dictator well and expects matters with the country to be “fine.”

Mr. Trump appears to be trying to rekindle direct talks with Kim on the heels of his decision to reduce the number of U.S. forces participating in ongoing joint military drills with South Korea. 

Mr. Trump said he made the decision to scale back participation in the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise “based on my very good relationship with” Kim. He said the longstanding annual military exercises sent a “totally inappropriate and hostile signal” to the North.

South Korea’s lack of assistance in the war with Iran was also a factor, he said. 

The U.S. and South Korea have been close allies for more than 70 years. The exercises that started this week usually run for 10 days, but they have been halved this year, on Mr. Trump’s orders, and will end Friday.  

The move has rattled U.S. allies in the region, particularly South Korea and Japan, where officials are now quietly questioning whether the U.S., which has always provided a security guarantee, would come to their defense if North Korea or China were to take some hostile action.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has now called for complete military independence from the U.S., and he is pushing for a faster acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Seoul Wednesday for a pre-planned visit. He met with his South Korean counterpart Cho Hyun, who said he hoped for China’s cooperation on working toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.