North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is ready to meet with US President Donald Trump, Lee Song-gwon, secretary of the South Korean parliamentary intelligence committee from the opposition, said during a press briefing after a closed-door meeting with the country’s National Intelligence Service (NIS), UNN reports with reference to Newsweek.
The publication notes that Donald Trump met with Kim three times during his first term, unsuccessfully trying to convince the North Korean leader to scale back his United Nations-sanctioned nuclear weapons program in exchange for limited sanctions relief.
North Korea’s nuclear arsenal remains a central source of tension with South Korea, which estimates that Kim’s regime has about 50 warheads. In September 2023, North Korea amended its constitution to formally enshrine its nuclear capabilities, citing what it said was growing military cooperation between the United States and its key regional allies, South Korea and Japan.
Although the Trump-Kim meeting did not take place during the US president’s visit to South Korea last week, “various indications have been confirmed through multiple channels that North Korea has been preparing behind the scenes for dialogue with the United States,” Lee was quoted as saying by the NIS, Yonhap News reported.
He added: “There are indications that North Korea has analyzed the political tendencies of working-level US administration officials dealing with North Korea issues.”
The agency also reported a “slight change” in rhetoric following Kim’s impassioned address to North Korea’s legislature, the Supreme People’s Assembly, in September.
During the speech, Kim reiterated his country’s status as a nuclear-armed state. He also said he had fond memories of Trump and suggested he was open to resuming dialogue if Washington abandoned its “absurd” goal of denuclearizing North Korea.
Kim also dismissed recent gestures by South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who has struck a more conciliatory tone since taking office in June, saying “nothing has changed significantly” and that denuclearization of the North remains Seoul’s primary goal.
Since then, the 41-year-old leader has “softened his tone” toward Washington and refrained from making direct comments about nuclear weapons, Lee was quoted as saying by NIS.
U.S. President Donald Trump did not meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his Asian tour, although he had previously suggested the possibility of such a meeting.
At the same time, Trump did not rule out the possibility that talks with Kim Jong-un could take place later. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he said he hoped to meet with the North Korean leader “in the near future” and believed he was also interested in dialogue.
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