US President Donald Trump said on Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had responded to his outreach, a day after he ordered the United States to scale back military exercises with South Korea and described North Korea as “unthreatening and respectful.”
Asked in the Oval Office why Kim had not responded to his efforts to re-engage, Trump replied, “he has.” He gave no further details. White House officials and North Korea’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Drills cut back
Trump instructed the Pentagon on Sunday to “substantially reduce” joint military exercises with South Korea, citing the cost of the drills and Seoul’s refusal to take part in actions against Iran. Writing on his Truth Social platform, he said the exercises were “not only costly … but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful.”
North Korea has long denounced the drills as preparations for war.
A relationship stalled since 2019
Trump and Kim held summits in 2018 and 2019 before negotiations collapsed over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal. North Korea remains under heavy international sanctions over those weapons and its ballistic missiles.
Last year Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, conceded the personal relationship between her brother and Trump was “not bad,” but said any attempt to use it to end the North’s nuclear weapons programme would only be the subject of “mockery.”
Since 2019 North Korea has substantially deepened ties with Russia while maintaining close relations with China. North Korean troops have fought alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, and Kyiv said last week that North Korean-made missiles were used in a Russian ballistic missile attack on a steel plant in Zaporizhzhia. Trump’s administration has repeatedly criticised that support, but on Monday the president said “Kim Jong Un has always treated me with great respect.”
In Pyongyang on Tuesday, North Korea’s state news agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as telling his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui that the two countries were working to establish a “new and righteous world order.” The message made no mention of Trump.
Victor Cha, who heads the Korea programme at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said he doubted North Korea would respond immediately. Analysts say another summit remains possible despite Pyongyang’s coolness and Kim’s stronger position.
The development follows South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s proposal for talks to formally end the Korean War.
