[Anchor]

The remarks by President Trump that you saw earlier are not merely a matter of negotiation strategy to draw North Korea into dialogue. Mentioning the number of nuclear weapons publicly itself is interpreted as acknowledging its nuclear possession. While the U.S. government's official stance that North Korea's denuclearization remains the goal, analysis suggests that Trump is leaning toward acknowledging the reality of North Korea's nuclear possession and managing it.

Reporter Kim Minpyo has the report.

[Reporter]

Since the very first day of his second term, President Trump has repeatedly referred to North Korea as a nuclear-armed state.

[Donald Trump / U.S. President (On the first day of his second term): North Korea is a nuclear-armed state. We got along well, and Kim Jong Un will be very happy to see me return.]

Last April, while criticizing allies such as South Korea for being passive about troop deployment to the Strait of Hormuz, he publicly revealed the number of North Korea's nuclear weapons for the first time.

[Donald Trump / U.S. President (Last April): We are exposing 45,000 U.S. troops in South Korea to danger. Right next door is Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who has 45 nuclear weapons.]

Secretary of State Rubio and Secretary of Defense Hegseth have also used expressions that appear to acknowledge North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons.

The U.S. government has maintained its official stance that its North Korea policy goal of denuclearization remains unchanged, including during the South Korea-U.S. summit last year and the U.S.-China summit last May.

However, analyses indicate that President Trump's attitude toward the North Korean nuclear issue has become much more ambiguous than in the past.

This is a significant departure not only from the U.S. North Korea policy pursued over the past 30 years seeking denuclearization, but also from his first term, when the 2019 Hanoi North Korea-U.S. summit collapsed due to disagreements over denuclearization.

Experts note that, unlike Iran, which risked war while being told to abandon its nuclear development, the approach toward North Korea—which already possesses a large number of nuclear warheads and has advanced its launch vehicles—is bound to be different.

With North Korea's nuclear weapons having passed the stage where they can be easily addressed, North Korea-China-Russia ties neutralizing sanctions, and China showing an attitude of condoning North Korea's nuclear possession, analysis suggests that Trump is shifting significantly toward a realistic course of reducing and managing the nuclear threat rather than pursuing complete denuclearization.

(Video Editing: Choi Jinhwa)