Former U.S. President Donald Trump has said he is open to meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his forthcoming trip to Asia, rekindling speculation about another possible encounter between the two leaders.
“I would. If you want to put out the word, I’m open to it,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he departed for the region, adding that he “had a great relationship” with Kim.
Trump made history during his first term when he became the first sitting U.S. president to step into North Korea, shaking hands with Kim in 2019.
The former president’s itinerary includes stops in Malaysia and Japan, where he is expected to meet several world leaders, including China’s President Xi Jinping, amid escalating trade tensions following Trump’s imposition of sweeping tariffs earlier this year.
Throughout his presidency, Trump adopted an unorthodox approach toward North Korea—a secretive, nuclear-armed state long isolated on the global stage. Initially mocking Kim as “little rocket man,” Trump later shifted to direct diplomacy, holding three meetings with the North Korean leader.
However, the talks failed to yield a concrete denuclearisation agreement.
Since their last encounter, North Korea has carried out multiple intercontinental ballistic missile tests, according to neighbouring countries.
When asked on Thursday whether he would recognise North Korea as a nuclear power, Trump replied:
“I think they are sort of a nuclear power… They got a lot of nuclear weapons, I’ll say that.”
Kim, for his part, has indicated willingness to meet Trump again if Washington drops what he called its “absurd” demand for North Korea to abandon its nuclear arsenal.
“I still have a good memory of President Trump,” Kim said in a speech last month, according to state media.
South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young told AFP there was a “considerable” chance of a Trump-Kim meeting during the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea.
However, according to Anadolu Agency, a senior U.S. official said no such meeting was currently on Trump’s schedule. Their last encounter, at the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, had come after a spontaneous invitation from Trump on social media.
Trump’s Asia tour begins in Malaysia, where he will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit. He is expected to arrive in Busan, South Korea, on Wednesday for the APEC meeting, where he will also meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
President Lee, who discussed peace on the Korean Peninsula during a visit to the White House in August, told the BBC he would welcome a deal between Trump and Kim under which North Korea agreed to freeze production of nuclear weapons.
Trump’s planned meeting with President Xi comes against the backdrop of renewed trade friction between Washington and Beijing. Both nations had agreed to suspend the imposition of triple-digit tariffs while seeking a broader trade accord.
However, that fragile detente is now at risk after Trump announced plans to impose a 100% tariff on Chinese goods in response to Beijing’s restrictions on rare earth mineral exports—critical materials for global electronics production.
