US President-elect Donald Trump’s team discussing holding direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to “melt the ice” in relations between the two leaders and eliminate the risk of armed conflict, two knowledgeable sources told Reuters.
It is not yet clear what the result of the new diplomatic efforts will be, they said, but Trump’s initial goal is to restore basic contacts between the US and North Korea. The president-elect’s team is not discussing further political goals, including because relations with Pyongyang may be overshadowed by more pressing foreign policy issues in the Middle East and Ukraine.
During his previous presidential term, Trump met with Kim Jong Un three times: in June 2018 in Singapore, as well as in February 2019 in Hanoi and in June of the same year on the border between the DPRK and South Korea in the demilitarized zone. After the meeting in Singapore, Trump claimed that he and the DPRK leader “fell in love with each other.”
During the campaign, the Republican claimed that as president he was able to “get along” with the North Korean leader and achieved a temporary halt to Pyongyang’s missile tests. “It’s nice to get along with a man who has a lot of nuclear weapons. I think he misses me, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said, promising to mend relations with North Korea if he wins the presidential election.
Last week, Trump proposed appointing Alex Wong as his deputy national security adviser. During Trump’s first term as president, Wong was deputy U.S. special representative for North Korea and in that capacity helped organize talks with Kim Jong Un.
