Trump seeks meeting with Kim Jong Un as early as this fall
The U.S. president is pressuring aides to arrange a meeting with the North Korean leader, potentially in November during the APEC summit in China's Shenzhen.
The U.S. president is pressuring aides to arrange a meeting with the North Korean leader, potentially in November during the APEC summit in China's Shenzhen.
U.S. President Donald Trump is actively working to arrange a direct meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as early as this fall, the Wall Street Journal reported on August 18, 2026, citing informed sources. The meeting could take place in November, as part of Trump's potential trip to Asia for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
According to the report, also carried by Russia's state news agency TASS, Trump has discussed with his advisers the possibility of holding face-to-face talks with Kim during that trip. The two leaders last met in 2019.
Trump, according to the Wall Street Journal, views the meeting as an opportunity to revive dialogue and try to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear program. However, the paper adds that experts and some U.S. officials do not expect significant progress in talks between the two leaders.
Clash Report, citing the WSJ, notes that Trump is pressuring his aides to organize the meeting as soon as possible, already this fall. YLE journalist Jalmari Salaterä also reports that a bilateral meeting is planned for November, as part of Trump's trip to the summit of the economic organization of Asian and Pacific countries.
Trump himself confirmed plans for a meeting with Kim Jong Un today, telling reporters: "I know Kim Jong Un very well, and it will be fine as long as we have a smart president. The fact is, I agree with him, that's a good thing, not a bad thing. He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons." He added that this should never have been allowed: "If I were president, I wouldn't have allowed it. But he has them."
Earlier this Sunday, after announcing a reduction in military exercises with South Korea, Trump hinted that he had recently communicated with Kim Jong Un. When asked why the North Korean leader had not reacted to that announcement, he replied that he "did" react.
However, Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, said today that she is not aware of any communication between her brother and the U.S. president. "Communication between the leaders of the two countries is something we are completely unaware of. Perhaps this is the only foreign policy issue concerning our supreme leader that I am not informed about," she said in a statement. She added that she has repeatedly stated that Kim Jong Un "personally harbors fond memories and feelings toward Trump."
During his first term, Trump attempted nuclear diplomacy with the North Korean leader, but since then, as the Wall Street Journal notes, the North Korean program has only strengthened. A potential meeting in Shenzhen would be the first step toward re-establishing communication at the highest level between Washington and Pyongyang after a multi-year hiatus.
For Croatian readers, this news has no direct domestic implications, but it represents a significant geopolitical development in the context of long-standing tensions on the Korean Peninsula and the broader Asia-Pacific security architecture.
