WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says he expects to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year, raising the prospect of a new high-level summit between Washington and Pyongyang despite the absence of confirmed diplomatic preparations and continuing tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
Trump made the comments Wednesday when reporters asked whether he expected to meet Kim again before the end of 2026. “Yeah, I will be,” Trump said, while emphasizing his longstanding personal relationship with the North Korean leader.
However, the possibility of another Trump-Kim summit remains uncertain. The White House has not announced a date, location or formal agreement for a meeting. More significantly, Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, has said there has been no recent communication between Pyongyang and Washington, casting doubt on whether preparations for a summit are actually underway.
Trump seeks to revive personal diplomacy
Trump has repeatedly argued that his personal relationship with Kim can help reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
During his first presidency, Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to meet a North Korean leader. The two held three face-to-face meetings: a historic summit in Singapore in 2018, a second summit in Hanoi in 2019 and an informal meeting at the Korean Demilitarized Zone later in 2019.
Those meetings generated worldwide attention but failed to produce a lasting agreement over North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Negotiations collapsed during the Hanoi summit after the two sides could not agree on the extent of North Korea's nuclear concessions and the sanctions relief Washington would provide.
Trump nevertheless continues to view his relationship with Kim as a diplomatic asset.
“I get along with him very well,” Trump told reporters while discussing the possibility of another meeting. He has repeatedly suggested that maintaining direct communication with Kim is preferable to allowing tensions to escalate into a military confrontation.
North Korea questions Trump's claims
The biggest obstacle to Trump's proposed meeting may be Pyongyang itself.
Kim Yo Jong, a senior North Korean official and the North Korean leader's sister, said there had been no recent communication between the United States and North Korea. Her comments came shortly after Trump publicly suggested that he expected another meeting with Kim.
Her statement indicates that Trump's announcement may represent an aspiration rather than evidence that a summit has already been arranged.
North Korea has also shown little indication that it is prepared to return to the type of denuclearization negotiations pursued during Trump's first term. Pyongyang has continued developing its military capabilities and has increasingly presented its nuclear arsenal as essential to national security.
U.S. and South Korea scale back military exercises
Trump's latest comments also came amid changes to joint U.S.-South Korean military activities.
The United States and South Korea confirmed that they were reducing the scale of their Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises. Trump had directed the Pentagon to substantially reduce the exercises, arguing that large-scale drills could be viewed by North Korea as provocative.
The decision represents a potentially important diplomatic signal to Pyongyang.
For decades, North Korea has condemned U.S.-South Korean military exercises as rehearsals for an invasion. Washington and Seoul, however, have maintained that the drills are defensive and necessary to preserve military readiness.
The reduction could provide an opening for diplomacy, but it could also raise concerns in Seoul and Washington about whether military readiness is being compromised in pursuit of negotiations.
Nuclear weapons remain the central issue
Any future Trump-Kim meeting would face a much more difficult nuclear environment than the one that existed during their first-term diplomacy.
North Korea has continued to expand its nuclear and missile capabilities since the collapse of the 2019 Hanoi negotiations. Trump has recently referred to North Korea's nuclear arsenal in unusually specific terms, saying the country possesses dozens of powerful nuclear weapons. Independent estimates have also suggested that Pyongyang could have roughly 50 to 60 assembled warheads, although exact numbers remain uncertain.
The central question for Washington is whether Trump would seek complete denuclearization again or pursue a more limited agreement focused on arms control, missile testing, risk reduction or other measures.
That distinction could determine whether negotiations have any realistic chance of succeeding.
Why a new summit would be different
A potential fourth Trump-Kim meeting would take place in a substantially different geopolitical environment.
North Korea has strengthened its relationship with Russia and has continued expanding military cooperation with Moscow. Pyongyang has also maintained important economic and political ties with China.
At the same time, North Korea's nuclear program has become more deeply established.
During Trump's first-term negotiations, Washington insisted that North Korea ultimately abandon its nuclear weapons. Pyongyang, however, has increasingly rejected the idea of surrendering its nuclear arsenal.
That leaves the two sides with a fundamental disagreement that personal diplomacy alone may not resolve.
Missile activity adds to uncertainty
The situation became even more complicated Thursday when South Korea reported that North Korea had launched around 10 short-range missiles toward the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea in South Korea.
The launches came only hours after Trump's comments about meeting Kim and added another reminder that Pyongyang continues to pursue its military programs even as Washington talks about renewed diplomacy.
The timing could make negotiations politically more difficult for the United States and South Korea, particularly if North Korea continues missile tests while rejecting direct communication with Washington.
What a Trump-Kim meeting could accomplish
Despite the obstacles, another summit could provide benefits if both sides are willing to use it for substantive negotiations.
A meeting could potentially address nuclear testing, missile launches, military exercises, sanctions, diplomatic communication channels and broader security arrangements.
Even if complete denuclearization remains out of reach, an agreement designed to reduce the risk of military confrontation could still be significant.
Trump's approach has generally emphasized leader-to-leader diplomacy rather than lengthy negotiations between lower-level officials. His supporters argue that his direct relationship with Kim gives him an opportunity that traditional diplomacy may not provide.
Critics counter that the previous summits produced dramatic images and political headlines but failed to deliver a durable agreement restricting North Korea's nuclear capabilities.
No summit has been confirmed
For now, Trump's comments should be viewed as an indication of his intentions rather than confirmation that a summit is scheduled.
There is no publicly announced date or location for a meeting, and North Korea has not confirmed that Kim plans to meet Trump. Kim Yo Jong's denial of recent communications further underscores the uncertainty.
Still, Trump's statement shows that he wants to reopen the diplomatic channel with Pyongyang and revive one of the most unconventional foreign-policy relationships of his first presidency.
Whether Kim shares that interest remains the key question.
A fourth Trump-Kim meeting would attract enormous international attention, but the real test would come after the cameras leave: whether the two governments can overcome their disagreements over North Korea's nuclear arsenal and create an agreement that lasts longer than their previous rounds of diplomacy.
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