US President Donald Trump is reportedly pushing for a meeting with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un as soon as November, according to the Wall Street Journal. US officials said Trump has privately discussed arranging an in-person discussion with Kim during his next trip to Asia, which could coincide with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China.
Reviving first-term diplomatic goal
Trump is seeking to revive a diplomatic goal from his first term: convincing Kim to abandon North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The reported push comes amid Trump's decision to "substantially reduce" America's joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his "very good relationship" with Kim, as previously reported by the Mirror.
From hostile rhetoric to historic meetings
Any form of sit-down seemed improbable in 2017 when Trump declared North Korea would be "met with fire" and referred to Kim as "little rocket man." Kim responded by calling Trump a "mentally deranged US dotard" and threatening to "tame him with fire" as the threat of all-out nuclear war loomed. After Kim boasted he was ready to strike America following a missile test, Trump told the UN General Assembly in September 2017 that he would "totally destroy" North Korea and that "rocket man is on a suicide mission." North Korea's foreign minister, Ri Yong-ho, called it a declaration of war, but the exchange set off a chain of events leading to a surprise sit-down between the two leaders.
The two leaders have met in person three times, all during Trump's first term. The first summit in Singapore in 2018 produced a joint statement on denuclearization. The second in Vietnam in 2019 ended abruptly without an agreement over differences on sanctions relief and nuclear disarmament. Their most recent meeting took place in the Korean Demilitarized Zone later in 2019, when Trump stepped across the military demarcation line into North Korean territory, becoming the first sitting US president to do so.
