The chances of a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year are fading, with Pyongyang yet to respond to Washington's outreach and little time remaining before a regional summit in China where the two leaders could meet, according to five people familiar with the matter.
Trump has expressed interest in reviving diplomacy with North Korea, having met Kim three times during his first term. But Pyongyang has shown little enthusiasm for renewed talks aimed at curbing its nuclear program, leaving the prospect of another high-profile summit increasingly uncertain.
The United States has received no response to its efforts to arrange a meeting, according to the five people, four of whom were briefed by senior U.S. and South Korean officials. A South Korean official also said there were no signs that North Korea was preparing for a meeting.
The leaders could still meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, on Nov. 18-19, but the window for arranging such an encounter is narrowing.
In August, Trump said he planned to meet Kim later this year and indicated that the North Korean leader had responded to his outreach.
South Korea's intelligence agency told lawmakers late last month that there was a 50% chance the leaders would meet during the APEC summit. But Trump struck a more cautious tone Monday, playing down the likelihood of a meeting during the gathering or a regional summit in the Philippines later in November.
"I get along with him very well, and I'm not sure that anybody's asking for a meeting," Trump told reporters at the White House.
A White House official said Trump remained willing to engage Kim without preconditions, while emphasizing that no meeting had been scheduled.
"President Trump remains open to talking with Kim Jong Un, without any preconditions. No meetings to announce at this time. The leaders will meet at the appropriate time," the official said.
Last week, South Korean Ambassador to Washington Kang Kyung-wha said there had been no concrete progress toward a summit. A senior U.S. official had similarly said last month that Trump was ready to speak with Kim and that the initiative now rested with Pyongyang.
North Korean state media has indicated that any bilateral summit would come with tough conditions, potentially including sanctions relief. Kim's influential sister, Kim Yo Jong, has described the two leaders as having an "excellent" relationship, but that has not translated into renewed diplomatic engagement.
Ankit Panda, a senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, estimated that the chance of a Trump-Kim meeting at the APEC summit was below 10%.
He said Pyongyang was likely seeking a significant public gesture from Washington before agreeing to another meeting, adding that a recent U.S. decision to scale back military exercises with South Korea had not been enough.
Washington has periodically sought China's help in facilitating talks with North Korea, which maintains close ties with Beijing. But cordial relations between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have yet to produce a breakthrough with Pyongyang.
Despite three historic meetings in 2018 and 2019, Trump and Kim failed to reach a lasting agreement on North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
The two Koreas remain technically at war under the armistice that ended fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War. The United States maintains about 28,500 troops in South Korea as part of its joint defense posture against the North, which continues to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. South Korean officials have cited estimates from private research groups putting North Korea's nuclear arsenal at between 80 and 120 warheads.
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Michelle Steel said Wednesday that the timing of any meeting remained uncertain but suggested it could come together quickly if both sides agreed.
"If it happens, then it's going to happen the next day or within a couple of days' notice," she said at an event organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea.
