Trump administration officials have privately discussed setting up a meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when Trump visits Asia next month, though many are skeptical that it will ultimately happen, sources familiar with the matter said.
Officials have not yet done any of the serious logistical planning they would need to do to arrange such a visit, the sources said, pointing to the fact that there have not been any communications between Washington and Pyongyang like Trump had at times during his first term. Trump’s initial outreach to the North Korean leader earlier this year never received a reply because the North Koreans would not accept the letter, two sources told CNN.
For the upcoming trip, the White House has instead been far more focused on arranging a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping amid escalating trade tensions between the US and China.
But Trump has publicly and privately expressed a desire to meet his North Korean counterpart, and officials have left the door open to a meeting while he’s on his trip to Asia. In Trump’s first term, officials arranged a handshake between the two men in the Korean demilitarized zone in less than 48 hours after the president tweeted an invitation to get together — an example of how quickly things can change.
Trump’s personal interest in a potential sit-down with Kim was initially piqued after Trump hosted South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at the White House in August, the sources said. During their meeting, Lee formally invited Trump to attend the gathering of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade ministers in South Korea and suggested the setting could provide Trump with a prime opportunity to meet with Kim, CNN previously reported.
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