SEOUL, Oct. 27 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he “would love” to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un while traveling in Asia this week, adding that he would be willing to extend his trip in South Korea if Kim agrees to talks.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Malaysia to Japan, Trump said he had not been in direct contact with Kim but remained open to another meeting.
“I haven’t said anything, but I’d love to meet with him if he’d like to meet,” Trump told reporters. “I got along great with Kim Jong Un. I liked him. He liked me. If he wants to meet, I’ll be in South Korea.”
Trump is scheduled to travel from Japan to South Korea on Wednesday, where he will meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The meeting with Xi is expected Thursday before Trump’s return to Washington.
When asked whether he would prolong his itinerary to allow time for a potential encounter with Kim, Trump left the possibility open.
“Well, I hadn’t thought of it, but I think the answer would be yeah, I would do that,” he said. “[South Korea]’s our last stop, so it would be pretty easy to do.”
Pressed on what Washington could offer Pyongyang in negotiations, Trump pointed to sanctions as the main bargaining chip. Since 2006, the U.N. Security Council, along with the United States and other nations, has sanctioned North Korea for its nuclear weapons development.
“We have sanctions — that’s pretty big to start off with,” Trump said. “I would say that’s about as big as you get.”
Last month, Kim signaled a willingness to resume diplomacy with Washington but warned that any discussion of giving up his regime’s nuclear arsenal would be off the table.
“If the United States abandons its vain obsession with denuclearization, acknowledges reality and desires genuine peaceful coexistence with us, there is no reason why we should not sit down with the United States,” Kim said in a speech before North Korea’s parliament.
“I personally still have fond memories of President Trump,” he added.
Trump met Kim three times during his first term — in Singapore in 2018, in Hanoi in 2019 and briefly at the Demilitarized Zone later that year. Their talks collapsed amid disagreements on sanctions relief and steps toward denuclearization.
While speculation about a meeting continues to swirl, a senior South Korean official said Monday that any encounter between Trump and Kim this week is “very unlikely.”
“There are talks the two could meet, but I believe that possibility is very unlikely,” Third Deputy National Security Adviser Oh Hyun-joo told foreign media in Seoul.