Report: Trump Seeking Summit with Kim Jong-un This Fall

[Anchor]

Foreign media reports indicate that U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as early as this fall. Analysts suggest that as an exit to the war in Iran remains out of sight, Trump is seeking a diplomatic breakthrough with North Korea.

For our first report, Washington Correspondent Jeon Byeong-nam has the details.

[Reporter]

The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. President Donald Trump has instructed his aides to arrange a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un within this year.

A meeting on the sidelines of his visit to Asia in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, is reportedly being discussed as a primary option.

Previously, Trump also pursued a meeting with Chairman Kim during his trip to Asia, which included attending the APEC summit in Gyeongju in October of last year.

U.S. officials stated that "North Korea also sent positive signals behind the scenes at the time, but the efforts faced difficulties due to a tight schedule."

Since June, Trump has signaled hope for North Korea-U.S. dialogue by posting photos on social media from the 2018 North Korea-U.S. summit in Singapore and the 2019 meeting at Panmunjom.

Then, the day before yesterday (the 17th), he dangled a significant scale-down of the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises as a card to draw a response from North Korea.

[Victor Cha / Korea Chair at CSIS (CSIS Emergency Panel Discussion) : As he pours effort into a summit with Kim Jong-un, this is the first concrete step he (Trump) has taken to draw Chairman Kim in.]

Trump stated that he has received a "positive" response.

[Donald Trump / U.S. President (local time on the 17th) : (What stage is the dialogue at?) Very positive. Chairman Kim Jong-un has always had great respect for me.]

U.S. media outlets analyzed that Trump, bogged down in the quagmire of the war in Iran, wants a diplomatic achievement for the November midterm elections that could resolve the North Korean nuclear issue through a grand bargain with Kim Jong-un.

Criticism has also followed regarding Trump's attempts, with detractors calling it a "mistaken perception that diplomatic goals can be achieved through personal ties, and an act of appeasing another dictator."

(Camera reporting: Cho Chang-hyun, Park Eun-ha | Video editing: Park Seon-su | Design: Hwang Se-yeon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.