Seoul official hints at US-North Korea meeting in 2025

SEOUL – A meeting between North Korea and the United States on the sidelines of 2025’s Apec summit in South Korea “cannot be ruled out”, according to a Seoul Foreign Ministry official.

Ties between Pyongyang and Washington have been in deep freeze since a high-profile summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in 2019 collapsed over sanctions relief and Pyongyang’s nuclear concessions.

Since then, North Korea has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state, though Mr Kim has recently signalled willingness to reopen a dialogue with Washington.

A high-ranking official in South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said on Sept 26 in New York that such talks could take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, due to start in late October.

“We cannot rule out the possibility,” the official said when asked about the prospective meeting.

Mr Trump is expected to attend the forum, which will take place in the South Korean city of Gyeongju.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, gave no details of where US-North Korea talks might take place or what form they would take.

The pair met three times during the US leader’s first term, and Mr Trump once famously said the pair had fallen “in love”.

The first summit took place in Singapore in 2018.

Their relationship then hit the rocks after the February 2019 summit in Hanoi, Vietnam. It fell apart over what concessions Pyongyang was willing to make over its nuclear programme.

Mr Trump and Mr Kim then met again in June 2019 in Panmunjom, a village in the demilitarised zone separating North and South Korea, which remain technically at war with each other.

However, Mr Trump said in August that he hoped to meet the North Korean leader again, possibly in 2025.

And the North Korean state media quoted Mr Kim this week as saying he had “fond memories” of the US leader and was open to future talks if Washington dropped its demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons.

Mr Kim made a rare trip outside North Korea in September, appearing alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a massive military parade in Beijing.

Mr Xi is also expected to make an appearance at the Apec forum, which runs until Nov 1.

Historically, China is North Korea’s main backer, though Mr Kim has drawn closer to Mr Putin in recent years and sent Moscow arms and troops to assist in its invasion of Ukraine.

On Sept 26, Pyongyang’s state media said Mr Kim had reaffirmed the country’s “invariable” stance on maintaining security through its nuclear forces.

Mr Kim said the North Korean leadership “will give top priority” to supporting nuclear development, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

With backing from both Mr Putin and Mr Xi, Mr Kim is expected to command more influence in any future talks with Mr Trump, analysts say.

“Kim is now positioning himself not as an isolated dictator, but as a key stakeholder backed by two nuclear-armed great powers,” Dr Lee Seong-hyon, a visiting scholar and associate at the Harvard University Asia Centre, told AFP.

“This dramatically increases his leverage in any future bilateral negotiations.” AFP