Home > National > North Korea

Trump’s Asia trip does not include meeting with North's Kim: senior U.S. official

Published: 25 Oct. 2025, 09:34 Updated: 25 Oct. 2025, 09:56

Donald Trump, left, and Kim Jong-un are seen together on the North Korean side of Panmunjom, the truce village in the demilitarized zone, in June 2019. [YONHAP]

U.S. President Donald Trump has no plans to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his upcoming trip to Asia, a senior U.S. official said Friday, noting Trump's openness to reengaging with the recalcitrant leader.

The official made the remarks in an online press briefing, as Trump is set to begin his two-day state visit to South Korea on Wednesday on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit set to take place in the southeastern city of Gyeongju on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

"The president, of course, has expressed his willingness to meet with Kim Jong-un in the future, and [it] is not on the schedule for this trip," the official said, responding to a question about the chances of a meeting between Trump and Kim at the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas next week.

Speculation had persisted that Trump might seek to resume his personal diplomacy with Kim during his visit to South Korea for the APEC summit, as the White House has said that the president remains open to talks with the North Korean leader "without any preconditions."

Trump held three in-person meetings with Kim during his first term -- the first in Singapore in June 2018, the second in February in Hanoi and the third at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in June 2019.

Yonhap