The anticipated summit between North Korean and American leaders appears to be falling through.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. While on Air Force One en route from Japan, he told reporters that at some point, it’ll engage with North Korea and they’ll be back.
Trump added that he also wants to focus on China. Its attention is now on tomorrow’s meeting with China (the U.S.-China summit), but he assured that he would meet with North Korea in the not-too-distant future.
His remarks reflect North Korea’s lack of response to his proposal for a surprise meeting with Kim Jong Un, which he had suggested since October 24. Instead, North Korea has escalated tensions by launching missiles. This suggests that the Trump administration will not prioritize North Korean issues while managing the APEC agenda.
As of Trump’s visit, North Korea had not officially responded to his meeting proposal. Instead, they announced the launch of cruise missiles in the West Sea the previous day, claiming significant progress in operationalizing nuclear capabilities – a provocative message seen as a de facto rejection of Trump’s proposal.
While some speculated about possible back-channel communications between North Korea and the U.S., Trump’s statements suggest that no meaningful dialogue has occurred between the two nations at this time.
The morning of Trump’s arrival was initially considered a de facto deadline for determining whether the U.S.-North Korea meeting would materialize. This expectation was based on the precedent set during the emergency meeting at Panmunjom on June 30, 2019, when North Korea responded about 32 hours after Trump’s proposal. If North Korea hadn’t decided by this morning, a meeting seemed unlikely even on Thursday, Trump’s departure date.
However, by this morning, North Korea had not provided any direct response to Trump’s proposal through any channels.
Given Trump’s comments on Monday about potentially extending his stay in South Korea, the situation could change if North Korea were to respond positively by the afternoon. However, both Trump and North Korea appear to be more focused on the upcoming U.S.-China summit at this moment.
Experts believe that as North Korea strengthens ties with China and Russia, it may be avoiding the global spotlight that a U.S.-North Korea summit would bring. This could be part of a strategy to create a scenario where Chinese President Xi Jinping achieves a diplomatic victory in negotiations with Trump.