North Korea’s leader has grown more assertive since their last efforts at diplomacy ended in failure — and now has Russia at his side.
President Donald J. Trump said he would reach out to North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, raising the possibility of rekindling their bromance diplomacy five years after their first round of negotiations drew global attention but did little to reduce Mr. Kim’s growing nuclear threat.
“He liked me and I got along with him,” Mr. Trump said during an interview with the Fox News host Sean Hannity, after saying that he would reach out to Mr. Kim again in his second term. “He is not a religious zealot. He happens to be a smart guy.”
Mr. Trump’s comments, aired on Thursday night, were the first time he has expressed an intent to reopen diplomacy with Mr. Kim since taking office on Monday. During his first term, Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim made history when they held the first summit between their nations, which remain technically at war. But their relationship petered out after their three high-profile meetings failed to yield any progress.
It is unclear whether or how Mr. Kim, emboldened by a stronger alliance with Russia and his own country’s military advances, will respond to the overtures this time around. Since Mr. Trump last met Mr. Kim five years ago, North Korea’s missile capabilities have expanded and he could demand a bigger price for making concessions on his nuclear program, analysts say.
Mr. Trump had voiced interest in the North Korean leader during his campaign, saying at one point that “it’s nice to get along when somebody has a lot of nuclear weapons.” Hours after his inauguration, he also told reporters that Mr. Kim was “a nuclear power,” a shift from Washington’s longstanding refusal to recognize North Korea as such.
Officials in South Korea, a U.S. ally gripped by a domestic political crisis following the impeachment of its leader, have feared Mr. Trump’s return might put the Korean Peninsula on a diplomatic roller coaster ride again.