Trump pushing for summit with Kim Jong Un as early as this fall, WSJ reports

U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly pursuing a direct meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, potentially as early as this autumn, according to the Wall Street Journal. This initiative appears to be a renewed effort to re-engage in high-level diplomacy with Pyongyang, following Trump's recent instruction to scale back joint U.S.-South Korea military drills and his emphasis on maintaining a "good relationship" with Kim.

Sources within the U.S. administration indicate that Trump has been pressuring his staff to arrange a summit with Kim this fall. He has privately discussed meeting Kim during his next trip to Asia, with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen in November being a possible occasion. However, no formal preparations for such a meeting are currently underway.

The Wall Street Journal suggests that Trump is keen to make engagement with North Korea a signature diplomatic achievement, especially as the outcome of the war with Iran remains uncertain. During his first term, Trump met Kim three times, but these encounters did not lead to North Korea abandoning its nuclear weapons program. A White House official told the Wall Street Journal that Trump and Kim "will meet at an appropriate time."

Trump had previously attempted to arrange a meeting with Kim during his Asia tour last year. He publicly expressed his desire to meet Kim, and U.S. officials indicated that Pyongyang had also signaled openness to a meeting. However, scheduling conflicts prevented the summit. Trump later remarked that such a meeting might have been "disrespectful" to the summit planned with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.

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will meet at an appropriate time.