Trump Says He Plans to Meet Kim Jong-un

US President Donald Trump has sought to revive his personal diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, while claiming that North Korea possesses 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons. His comments came after he ordered Pentagon officials to cut short joint military exercises with the South Korean military, arguing that the drills sent an inappropriate and hostile message to Pyongyang.

Trump emphasized his personal relationship with Kim, whom he met several times during his first term. Their relationship cooled after meetings in 2018 and 2019, including an encounter at the demilitarized zone between the Koreas during which Trump became the first sitting US president to enter North Korean territory.

Trump said that getting along with Kim was a positive development, while arguing that North Korea should never have been allowed to develop such a large nuclear arsenal.

Estimates of the size of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal vary. In June, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated that North Korea had possibly assembled around 60 nuclear warheads and possessed enough fissile material to produce at least 30 more.

(Reuters, Max)