▲ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump hold hands across the Demarcation Line in the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom during their meeting on June 30, 2019, in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on July 1. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
▲ President Lee Jae Myung (L) speaks to U.S. President Donald Trump during their summit in Washington on Aug. 25, 2025. (Yonhap)

(News Focus) Trump-Kim-summit

(News Focus) Lee-Trump summit fuels expectations for Trump-Kim meeting at upcoming APEC gathering

By Park Boram

SEOUL, Aug. 26 (Yonhap) -- As U.S. President Donald Trump voiced hope for meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this year during his summit with President Lee Jae Myung, attention has been drawn to whether and when such summitry could take place, with an upcoming multilateral event in South Korea cited as a plausible occasion.

Comments calling for resuming a summit between the North's leader Kim and Trump took center stage in Monday's talks between Lee and the U.S. president in Washington, their first summit since Lee took office in June.

"I hope you will meet Kim Jong-un and even build a 'Trump World' in North Korea so that I can play golf there, and that you will firmly play the role of a historic peacemaker," Lee told Trump at the opening of the summit. "The only person who can truly resolve this issue is President Trump."

Trump responded positively, saying, "We will work on that." In a subsequent press availability, he also told reporters, "It's hard to say that, but I'd like to meet him this year," referring to Kim.

Amid growing expectations for a possible resumption of a Kim-Trump summit, attention is focusing on the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, set to kick off in late October in South Korea's southeastern city of Gyeongju, as a plausible occasion for the meeting.

As Trump appears open to attending the APEC summit, the government is reportedly leaning toward inviting Kim to meet the U.S. president on the occasion of the multilateral event.

Many speculate that if the meeting takes place, it is more likely to resemble their last encounter at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom in 2019, rather than be held in Gyeongju on the sidelines of the APEC event.

However, the crucial question remains on whether Kim will accept the overture for dialogue with Trump at a time when North Korea has aligned closely with Russia and secured resource supplies in exchange for troop deployments.

While Trump, focused on high-profile international affairs, appears keen on holding a meeting, the prospect on Kim's side is less promising, with Kim Yo-jong, his influential sister, having rejected talks with the U.S. if they call for denuclearization.

North Korea's pursuit of U.S. recognition as a nuclear-armed state also makes resuming a Kim-Trump summit more difficult, as Washington continues to openly seek North Korea's denuclearization, experts said.

Kim may not accept the dialogue offer unless the U.S. drops its denuclearization demand in favor of the lesser goal of nuclear disarmament, experts pointed out.

"From Kim Jong-un's perspective, a new summit (with Trump) should come with expectations for tangible results, and without such results, it will be difficult for him to return to the dialogue table," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies.

Some experts see lingering, however meager, prospects for the resumption of dialogue, citing Kim Yo-jong's statement in mid-August: 'If the U.S. persists with the outdated way of thinking, the meeting between the top leaders will remain only the 'hope' of the U.S. side."

The remarks have been widely interpreted as indicating North Korea's interest in dialogue if Washington holds back its demand for denuclearization.

"If the dialogue is framed not as negotiations for denuclearization, there's a high possibility that a (Kim-Trump) meeting can take place," said Cho Han-bum, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

He also said Trump could pursue a "small deal" for a nuclear freeze or disarmament instead of complete denuclearization to clinch tangible results, suggesting that Kim may respond to the dialogue offer in that case.

Trump and Kim met twice for summits -- in Singapore in 2018 and Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2019 -- followed by a brief encounter in Panmunjom in June 2019. No further meeting has taken place since the Hanoi summit ended without a deal.

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