WASHINGTON, Aug 20 — US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this year, while noting that Pyongyang has 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons, marking the first time he has cited a specific figure for the recalcitrant regime’s nuclear arsenal, according to Yonhap news agency.
Trump made the remarks during a press availability at the White House, a day after The Wall Street Journal reported that he is pushing his aides for a meeting with Kim, which could happen during his next trip to Asia, likely to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit set to take place in Shenzhen, China, in November.
“Yeah, I will be,” Trump told reporters when asked if he is expecting to meet Kim later this year. He did not elaborate on his plan to reengage with Kim.
Asked whether he is exchanging written letters with Kim, Trump said, “I can’t tell you that.”
Yonhap reported that in a separate press availability later, Trump refused to answer a question about whether his goal in reengaging with Kim is still North Korea’s denuclearisation, raising concerns that his administration could shift its policy focus toward goals short of denuclearization, such as tension reduction and risk management.
The Trump administration earlier affirmed its commitment to the “complete” denuclearisation of the North.
“I don’t want to talk about that, but I do have a good relationship with Kim Jong-un as you know, you’ve seen,” Trump said. “He didn’t like (Joe) Biden. He didn’t like (Barack) Obama. He didn’t like anybody, but he likes me.”
Trump’s remarks came amid speculation that he might seek to rekindle his personal diplomacy with Kim, which led to three bilateral meetings during his first term: the first in June 2018 in Singapore, the second in Hanoi in February 2019 and the last at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in June 2019.
The speculation has further been reinforced by Trump’s recent order to scale back South Korea-US military exercises, a move seen as a conciliatory gesture toward North Korea.
Pyongyang has long decried allied drills as rehearsals for war against it.
