In brief
- Donald Trump told reporters he plans to meet with Kim Jong-un later this year.
- The White House has not formally confirmed plans for a meeting.
United States President Donald Trump says he plans to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, saying that the Asian nation holds 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons.
The remarks come as Trump ordered Pentagon officials to cut short joint exercises with the South Korean military.
He wrote in a Sunday social media post that they sent a message to North Korea that was “totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful”.
During Trump’s first term, Kim called Trump a “mentally deranged US dotard” and threatened that he had use of a “nuclear button” on his desk.
But the two leaders turned that tension into face-to-face meetings, including a brief exchange at the demilitarised zone between the Koreas in which Trump became the first sitting US president to step into North Korean territory.
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
The leaders’ relationship cooled after the face-to-face meetings in 2018 and 2019.
“I know Kim Jong-un very well, and he’s going to be fine as long as we have a smart president,” Trump told reporters during a tour of the helipad he is constructing on the White House’s historic south lawn.
“I get along with him well,” Trump said. “And you know what? The fact that I get along with him, that’s a very good thing, not a bad thing.”
“He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons They should have never allowed it. If I were president, I wouldn’t have allowed it. But he’s got them,” Trump said.
Trump’s citing of a specific number of nuclear weapons held by North Korea was highly unusual.
There have been varying estimates by experts over the years on how many nuclear weapons North Korea has.
The US government does not publicly publish an official estimate of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, although a 2025 report by the Congressional Research Service cited non-governmental experts as estimating that North Korea has produced enough fissile material for up to 90 warheads but may have assembled approximately 50.
In June, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated that North Korea has “possibly assembled around 60 warheads, possesses enough fissile material to produce at least 30 more”.
For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.
Discussion about this post