Trump Wants To Meet Kim Jong Un Again, But No News From North Korea Yet

US President Donald Trump with Kim Jong Un in 2018/PHOTO of White House via Wikimedia Commons

JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump has repeatedly invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his preparations to visit South Korea this week.

Openly, North Korea has so far made no official statement. American and South Korean officials said no concrete preparations were being made. Ahead of Trump's departure from the US, North Korea tested a new hypersonic ballistic missile.

But Trump took advantage of his visit to Asia to assert his willingness to meet with North Korean dictators, in hopes of reviving a series of summits held by the two during the president's first term.

"I have a good relationship with him," Trump said on Monday.

"I'd love to meet him, if he would, if he would accept this message. We haven't discussed anything yet, but he knows I'm going to go there. If he wants to meet him, I'd love to meet him."

When asked what he could use to get Kim to negotiate, Trump answered sanctions.

"That's big enough to start," he said. "I think it's the biggest sanction you can get," he said.

The two held meetings in 2018 and 2019 before negotiations regarding Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal failed.

North Korea is under heavy international sanctions over the weapons, as well as its ballistic missiles.

Last month, Kim signaled openness to meeting Trump if the US overturned its demands for it to release its nuclear arsenal, as well as rejecting any negotiations with South Korea.

"Personally, I still have fond memories of US President Trump," he said in a speech.

"If the United States stops its absurd obsession for our denuclearization and accepts reality, and wants true peaceful coexistence, there is no reason for us not to sit with the United States," Kim continued at the time.

However, there is no sign of any negotiations set to take place. A US official said they were considering but never scheduled a visit to the Demilitarized Zone on the border between South Korea and North Korea.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June and sought to ease tensions with North Korea, proposed that Trump take advantage of his visit to South Korea for a dialogue with Kim.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who handles relations with North Korea, said Pyongyang was likely to issue a statement regarding Trump's offer to negotiate as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told parliament on Tuesday that Trump's statement calling North Korea a "nuclear force" and a possible easing of sanctions could be an incentive for Kim to negotiate.

"However, compared to 2017 and 2018, North Korea has formed a military alliance with Russia and strengthened its relations with China," he said.