During his , South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told President Donald Trump that he looked forward to the time when Trump could play a round of golf with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
“Someday I’ll see him … He was very good with me,” responded.
On Monday, North Korean state-run media quoted Kim as saying he was open to a new round of discussions with Trump, adding that Kim enjoyed a personal bond with the US president during his first administration.
“I still have good memories of President Trump,” told a session of the Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang.
The two leaders met in Singapore in June 2018 for an unprecedented summit that followed months of heated rhetoric during which Trump called Kim “a rocket man on a suicide mission” while threatening to “totally destroy” North Korea.
‘We fell in love’
After the meeting, which yielded an agreeing on the “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula, Trump quipped that Kim had written him “beautiful letters” and “we fell in love.”
The two leaders would end up during Trump’s first term. In many of them, Kim addressed Trump as “your excellency” while using flowery prose praising their friendship.
However, the euphoria after the Singapore summit . A follow-up meeting in Hanoi in February 2019 when it was clear there would be on getting North Korea to drop its nuclear weapons program.
The leaders met again briefly again in June 2019 for a photo op at Panmunjom village marking the demilitarized zone between North and South.
Now in his second term as president, Trump is facing a more emboldened North Korea, which has continued to develop advanced weapons while frequently . Pyongyang has also with China and, notably, Russia since Trump’s first term.
On Thursday, South Korean President Lee warned the UN General Assembly that North Korea is getting very close to that could carry a nuclear warhead to the US.
North Korea’s non-negotiable nuclear program
Despite Trump himself signaling his willingness to meet Kim, there are no signals from the Trump administration that a fourth summit is in the works. It also appears that neither side has budged on the crucial question of North Korea’s nuclear program.
On Monday, Kim said North Korea’s nuclear program would not be a bargaining chip, and reiterated his insistence that any meeting with Trump is contingent on Washington abandoning its “obsession with denuclearization.”
“Denuclearization is absolutely impossible,” Kim emphasized.
Responding to Kim’s statements, the US State Department this week reiterated that the Trump administration remains committed to the “compete denuclearization” of North Korea.
The Kim regime sees its nuclear program as existential to its survival and legitimacy. Analysts say that Kim would put US recognition of North Korea as a nuclear power on the table in any talks with Trump.
The meetings during Trump’s first term were also criticized for awarding the isolated Kim regime legitimacy and a place on the international stage while getting nothing in return. North Korea remains under international sanctions over its weapons program.
What does Kim want?
In late October, Trump is due to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ forum in the South Korean city of Gyeongju.
Mason Richey, professor of politics and international relations at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, said that as Trump is meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at APEC, Beijing could provide an opening for a Trump-Kim meeting.
“I think Kim is happy to send up a trial balloon to see if he can get a second bite of the apple with Trump and to get the US to finally recognize North Korea as a nuclear power,” said Richey.
Richey said the second Trump administration may be willing to provide more wiggle room in the near term for North Korea on the nuclear dispute, in order to come out with the appearance of a win.
“The US under Trump has indicated that it is willing to move past denuclearization as an immediate objective and instead have it as ‘one for the future’,” he told DW.
Richey added that in any negotiations with the , Kim is likely to seek sanctions relief and more diplomatic recognition while attempting to drive a wedge between the US and South Korea.
“The question, of course, is what is Trump going to get out of the deal,” he said. “Trump is not going to be giving anything away for free and I do not know what else can bring to the table,” he added.
Park Jung-won, a professor of law at Dankook University, told DW that Kim is aiming to seize the opportunity of his new-found diplomatic boost, as demonstrated when he alongside Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a military parade in Beijing in early September.
“Kim wants to make the most of this opportunity to consolidate North Korea’s position and win recognition of his nation as a nuclear state,” he said.
Curb your enthusiasm
However, Park remains unconvinced that another Kim-Trump meeting is imminent.
At APEC in October, Trump’s focus is likely to be on and the US president will also be meeting other regional leaders while he is in South Korea, according to Park.
The analyst pointed out that there would be much to discuss and agree behind the scenes before any in-person meeting could take place.
“If Trump offered a summit, then I’m sure that Kim would agree, as would Xi and Putin,” Park said. “But frankly, Trump seems to have so many issues stacked against him at home I do not think he has the time to take on something of this scale.”
Edited by: Wesley Rahn
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