US President-elect Donald Trump's team is discussing direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, hoping a new diplomatic move could reduce the risk of armed conflict.
Reuters reports this, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
Trump's direct talks with Kim Jong-un
Some members of Trump's team believe the Republican's direct approach, based on existing relations, is likely to help break the ice with Kim, years after the two exchanged insults and letters that Trump called “beautiful” during diplomatic efforts during his first term, the publication's interlocutors said.
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Reuters, citing sources, writes that the policy discussions are dynamic, and President-elect Trump has not yet made a final decision.
It is not yet clear what kind of response Kim will offer Trump. The DPRK has previously ignored four years of calls from US President Joe Biden to start talks without preconditions, and Kim has plucked up the courage to worsen relations by expanding his missile arsenal and starting to cooperate much more closely with Russia.
— We have already gone as far as we can in negotiations with the United States, — Kim said last week at a military exhibition in Pyongyang, state media quoted him as saying.
During his presidency from 2017 to 2021, Trump held three meetings with Kim — in Singapore, Hanoi and on the border between the two Koreas.
However, Trump's diplomacy has not produced any concrete results, although the 45th US president called the two leaders' talks “falling in love”. The US then called on North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, while Kim demanded a complete lifting of sanctions, and then made new threats.
According to the agency's interlocutors, Trump's initial goal would be to restore basic interaction, but further political goals or exact timelines have not yet been determined.
According to one of the interlocutors familiar with the transition plans, this issue may take a back seat to the more pressing issues of Trump's team's foreign policy in the Middle East and Russia's war against Ukraine.
On Friday, Trump gave a spot on his team to one of the men who implemented the original North Korea strategy during his first term, former State Department official Alex Wong. Wong is expected to serve as Trump's deputy national security adviser.
— As deputy special representative for North Korea, he helped negotiate my summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, — Trump's statement said.
Rising Tensions Between North Korea and the US
When Trump returns to the White House in January, he will inherit an increasingly tense relationship with Kim than he had in 2017, and allies expect the incoming president to confront it.
— My experience with President Trump is that he is much more likely to be open to direct engagement. I am optimistic that we could see an improvement in relations and perhaps a different position from Kim Jong-un if that dialogue were to resume, — U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty, a Trump ally, told Reuters earlier this year.
Washington has a dossier of concerns about the country’s expanding nuclear and missile programs, its increasingly hostile rhetoric toward South Korea and its close cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
These topics will be included in briefings for Trump aides during the Biden administration transition, a U.S. official said. Trump's team has yet to sign the transition agreements, which could limit the scope of some of these briefings.
Washington is particularly concerned about the prospect of increased nuclear and missile technology sharing between Russia and North Korea, as well as the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to Russia to help the Kremlin in its war against Ukraine, Reuters reported on Monday.
On Monday, Reuters reported that North Korea is expanding a key weapons production complex that makes a type of short-range missile used by Russia against Ukraine.
These factors raise the risk of conflict between several nuclear-armed states in Europe or Asia, including the United States and its allies, including South Korea and Japan, U.S. officials say.
U.S. troops are deployed across the region to deter North Korea, and Trump has pressed U.S. allies to shoulder much of the cost deployment.
Previously, during his last meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Peru in early November, US President Joe Biden asked Beijing to use its leverage to contain North Korea.
But the scope for China and the US to work together may be limited, as Trump has vowed to impose huge tariffs on Chinese goods and staff his team with China hardliners such as Marco Rubio as Secretary of State and Mike Waltz as National Security Adviser.
Last month, Trump said the two countries could have fought a “nuclear war with millions killed”, but he stopped it thanks to his ties with the leader DPRK.
