Trump Confirms Plans to Meet With Kim Jong Un Later This Year

President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday that he is planning to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un later this year. The confirmation comes just days after he brought up his tight relationship with Kim. Here is a look at the details released thus far.

Trump Signals Talks with North Korea Will Resume

The White House is reviving its attempts to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. Trump confirmed that he will be meeting with Kim when asked by reporters on Wednesday. Should the meeting come to fruition, it will be the first time that Trump meets with Kim since he took office for the second time.

The president has recently bragged about this friendship with Kim, a widely despised political leader on the global stage. Earlier this week, Trump instructed the Pentagon to pull back on the joint military exercises conducted with South Korea. This move is significant as South Korea has historically been a staunch ally with the U.S. The Asian country is also North Korea's greatest adversary, with the two nations sharing a border.

Defending his relationship with Kim, Trump said, "The fact that I get along with him ‒ that's a good thing, not a bad thing." When speaking about Kim, Trump said that "He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons. Should have never allowed it to happen. If I was president, I wouldn't have allowed it to happen. But he's got them."

The Wall Street Journal was the first news agency to report that Trump has been considering an in-person meeting with Kim. The tentative meeting is scheduled to happen at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Shenzhen, China, slated for November 18 and 19.

The two leaders met three times face-to-face during Trump's first time in the Oval Office. Each meeting sparked controversy, most notably the last one in 2019 in the Korean demilitarized zone between the two countries. At this meeting, Trump briefly stepped across the demarcation line, crossing into North Korea. Critics of the president said that this symbolic move signaled his support for the communist country over South Korea.

Despite meeting with Kim three separate times, the White House was not able to convince Kim to end his nation's nuclear weapons program. The Trump administration had offered to reduce economic sanctions against North Korea in exchange for them ditching their nuclear capabilities.

What is Next for Relations Between the U.S. and North Korea?

The Trump administration attempted to organize a summit with Kim last year when Trump was visiting Asia. However, those plans imploded due to logistical issues.

While discussions between the U.S. and North Korea had been put on the back burner in recent months as Trump deals with the crisis in the Middle East, the issue was brought back to the forefront earlier in the week when the White House said that the Pentagon is reducing its military drills in partnership with South Korea. At Trump's request, the Pentagon and South Korea will reduce the annual joint military drills from 11 to five days. This deal also includes a reduction of field training. The decision is significant, as North Korea had previously demanded that the U.S. scale back its joint military exercises with its nemesis in the past.

There is some question surrounding how many nuclear weapons North Korea has at its disposal. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated in June that the country has "possibly assembled around 60 warheads" and "possesses enough fissile material to produce at least 30 more."

It is clear that one of the primary foreign policy initiatives of the White House is to convince both Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear weapons programs. The president weaved both adversaries into the conversation on Wednesday, first stating that the U.S. "can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon." He quickly pivoted the conversation to North Korea, saying that "I know Kim Jong Un very well, and he's going to be fine. As long as we have a smart president, he's going to be fine. If we have a dumb president, then he's probably not going to be so fine."

Curious for more stories that keep you informed and entertained? From the latest headlines to everyday insights, YourLifeBuzz has more to explore. Dive into what's next.