NEW: Trump Hints At Another Meeting With North Korea’s Kim Jong Un

President Donald Trump expressed strong interest in meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his upcoming trip to East Asia.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump highlighted his positive personal rapport with Kim, stating, “I’d be open 100%, I get along very well with Kim Jong Un.” The comments come amid ongoing U.S. efforts to address North Korea’s nuclear program, which has remained a focal point of international diplomacy.

Trump’s willingness to engage marks a potential revival of high-level talks that characterized much of his first term in office. The two leaders held three historic summits between 2018 and 2019, each aimed at easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula and advancing denuclearization goals.

These encounters represented the first direct meetings between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean head of state, breaking decades of isolation.

The inaugural summit occurred on June 12, 2018, in Singapore. Trump and Kim exchanged pledges in a joint statement, with Kim committing to work toward “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” and Trump offering security guarantees in return.

Trump later described the event as a “very comprehensive” agreement, noting it had “changed the world.”

The meeting was widely viewed as a diplomatic breakthrough, leading to a temporary halt in North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests. U.S. intelligence assessments at the time confirmed no such activities for over a year following the summit.

However, momentum faltered at the second summit, held February 27-28, 2019, in Hanoi, Vietnam. Negotiations collapsed over disagreements on sanctions relief and verifiable steps toward denuclearization. Trump recounted the breakdown succinctly: “Sometimes you have to walk,” emphasizing the need for a sustainable deal rather than a rushed one. Despite the impasse, both sides agreed to continue dialogue at lower levels.

The third encounter took place on June 30, 2019, at the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), where Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to step across the border into North Korea.

Accompanied by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Trump invited Kim for an impromptu walk-and-talk. The brief meeting yielded a commitment to resume working-level negotiations, though substantive progress remained elusive. Analysts noted the summits’ role in reducing immediate hostilities, including the destruction of some North Korean testing facilities.

When Trump’s first term ended in 2021, North Korea conducted multiple missile launches and advanced its weapons programs, prompting renewed U.N. Security Council discussions.

Pyongyang has signaled openness to dialogue under certain conditions, including eased sanctions, according to state media reports. Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, recently described Trump as a “bold” figure capable of “practical solutions,” though she balked at the prospect of any serious progress on the country’s nuclear arsenal.

Trump’s East Asia itinerary includes stops in Japan and South Korea, where discussions on regional security are expected to feature prominently. A meeting with Kim could occur on the sidelines, potentially in a neutral venue like Singapore or the DMZ. U.S. officials have not confirmed any arrangements, but the president’s remarks suggest flexibility.