Trump Says He Expects to Meet Kim Jong-un This Year; North Korea Disputes Account of Contacts
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The Facts
- Trump said Wednesday he expects to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this year.
- Trump said North Korea possesses "57 very powerful nuclear weapons."
- The Wall Street Journal reported Trump is pressing aides to arrange a Kim meeting as early as this fall.
- A meeting could occur around the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, in November.
- Trump ordered the Pentagon on Sunday to substantially reduce annual joint military exercises with South Korea.
- South Korea's military said Wednesday the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise would be cut by about half.
- Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader's sister, said she was unaware of any communication with Washington.
- Kim Yo-jong said U.S. hostile policies toward North Korea have not changed and the reduced drills remain provocative.
- No date or location has been set, and neither the White House nor Pyongyang has confirmed a meeting.
- Trump met Kim three times in 2018 and 2019 without reaching an agreement to dismantle North Korea's arsenal.
- Outside estimates now put North Korea's arsenal at roughly 60 nuclear weapons.
Context
What happened during Trump's earlier diplomacy with Kim Jong-un?
Trump held three face-to-face meetings with Kim in 2018 and 2019 during his first term and described a "great relationship," but the talks produced no agreement to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program NYT,Aol,NBC News. North Korea continued expanding the program afterward, and estimates now place its arsenal at roughly 60 weapons along with missiles believed capable of reaching the United States NYT,MoneyControl.
Which military exercises were scaled back, and why does it matter?
Trump ordered the Pentagon on Sunday to substantially reduce this year's Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, annual U.S.-South Korean drills that rehearse defense against a North Korean attack CNBC,WSJ. He cited his relationship with Kim and called the drills' message to Pyongyang inappropriate and hostile Hindustan Times,NBC News. South Korea's military said Wednesday the exercise period would be cut roughly in half CNBC. A Wall Street Journal editorial and a letter it published criticized the decision as ignoring the threat North Korea poses WSJ,WSJ.
How reliable is Trump's figure of 57 nuclear weapons?
The number is an unusually specific public assessment by a U.S. president of North Korea's arsenal, and sources described it as rare NDTV,News18,Washington Post. Independent estimates cited by other reporting put the arsenal at roughly 60 weapons NYT,MoneyControl. The New York Post noted past intelligence assessments have differed NY Post.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- The drill cut came first and bought nothing yet: Pyongyang says it knows of no contact and still calls the reduced exercises provocative, with a 57-weapon arsenal unchanged.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the story is about deterrence given away before Kim concedes anything verifiable, or about reopening a dormant channel with an adversary too armed to stumble into war with.
How left and right read it
Concessions should be paid for, not offered up front. Yet the drills with South Korea were already cut roughly in half before any meeting was arranged, and Pyongyang answered that it knew of no communication with Washington and still called the reduced exercises provocative — so the deterrence was spent and nothing was bought. Meanwhile Trump puts the arsenal at 57 weapons. What, exactly, does Kim have to verifiably give up first?
“Stymied in Iran, Mr. Trump is increasingly turning his sights back to North Korea, even though analysts see little hope of quickly dismantling that country's growing nuclear arsenal.” — The New York Times
Direct talks are the hard-headed option here. An adversary Trump puts at 57 nuclear weapons is not one to stumble into war with, so cutting Ulchi Freedom Shield by about half is a modest price for testing whether a meeting this fall can happen. Kim Yo-jong says she knows of no contact from Washington — which is why the president should reopen that dormant channel, rather than accept open-ended obligations on the peninsula.
“Trump, however, appears to believe his personal relationship with Kim could reopen a diplomatic channel that largely went dormant under former President Joe Biden.” — NewsMax
The receipts — all 100 sources
Wire services (3)
Independent coverage (50)
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