Trump Says Kim Jong Un Meeting Possible at November APEC Summit
If a meeting occurs, it would mark the first direct Trump-Kim contact since the 2019 Hanoi summit collapsed, testing whether personal diplomacy can produce measurable progress on denuclearization...
U.S. President Donald Trump stated publicly that he may meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit scheduled for November, according to Hani Korea, a South Korean news outlet that reported the remarks on October 13, 2026. Trump did not specify a date, location, or agenda for any potential meeting, and no official schedule has been confirmed by either government.
APEC's 2026 host has not yet publicly confirmed arrangements for bilateral meetings between non-member delegations, and the North Korean government has not issued any statement acknowledging Trump's remarks, as of October 12, 2026.
Trump and Kim have met in person three times previously: in Singapore in June 2018, in Hanoi in February 2019, and briefly at the Demilitarized Zone in June 2019. The Hanoi summit ended without agreement after negotiations over sanctions relief and nuclear facility closures broke down, according to contemporaneous reporting by Reuters and the Associated Press.
No substantive diplomatic contact between Washington and Pyongyang has been publicly documented since the 2019 DMZ encounter. North Korea has in the intervening period conducted multiple ballistic missile tests, which the United Nations Security Council has condemned as violations of standing resolutions. The most recent round of UN condemnations cited launches recorded through 2025, per the UN Security Council's public records.
North Korea's status as a nuclear-armed state is not formally recognized under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which Pyongyang announced its withdrawal in 2003. Since then, independent assessments by organizations including the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute have estimated that North Korea has continued to expand its nuclear arsenal, though precise figures remain uncertain because independent verification inside the country is not permitted.
The APEC summit format is a multilateral economic forum, and North Korea is not a member of APEC. A bilateral meeting between Trump and Kim at such a venue would require separate logistical arrangements outside the formal summit structure. Neither the White House nor the State Department has issued a statement confirming that such arrangements are underway.
South Korea's government, which under its mutual defense treaty with the United States is a central party to any negotiations affecting Korean Peninsula security, has not issued a public response to Trump's remarks as of the date of this report. What Seoul's position would be toward a resumed Trump-Kim dialogue is not known from available public sources.
China, which shares a border with North Korea and has historically served as Pyongyang's primary economic partner and diplomatic interlocutor, has also not publicly commented on Trump's statement. China's stated policy, per the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been to support dialogue and denuclearization through negotiation.
What remains unknown is whether any preparatory contacts between U.S. And North Korean officials have taken place ahead of a potential summit. Such contacts, if they exist, would typically be disclosed through leaked reporting or official confirmation. Neither has occurred as of October 12, 2026.
The Trump administration's broader diplomatic posture toward Pyongyang has not been detailed in any formal policy document released to the public this year. Any clarity on U.S. Negotiating terms would require either a White House statement or congressional testimony from senior administration officials.