US President Donald Trump has signaled his willingness to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his ongoing trip to Asia, reigniting speculation about a potential revival of the stalled diplomatic channel that once captivated global attention. Speaking aboard Air Force One en route to South Korea, Trump told reporters on October 27 that he would “love to see” Kim, emphasizing that he maintains a “great relationship” with the North Korean leader.

The comments come as Trump attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the coastal South Korean city of Gyeongju. His statement has sparked curiosity among observers, given that it would mark the first interaction between the two since their last meeting in 2019 – an event that ended without an agreement but was nonetheless historic for bringing the two leaders face to face multiple times.

Trump’s overture toward Pyongyang represents one of the most unconventional and controversial aspects of his foreign policy legacy. During his first term, he became the first sitting US president to set foot in North Korea when he briefly crossed the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas in June 2019.

That meeting followed two earlier summits – the first in Singapore in June 2018, and the second in Hanoi in February 2019. The 2018 summit produced a broad, albeit vague, commitment by both sides to pursue denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for economic and security guarantees. The follow-up meeting in Hanoi, however, collapsed after disagreements over the scope and sequencing of sanctions relief versus nuclear dismantlement.

While Trump hailed the meetings as a sign of his diplomatic prowess – declaring he had prevented a war with North Korea – critics dismissed them as political theater that yielded no tangible progress. Nonetheless, the summits opened a temporary window for dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang that has remained largely shut since Trump left........

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