US and South Korean officials see fading chances of a meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year, according to five people with knowledge of the situation.
Trump, the only US president to have met a North Korean leader, has been eager to jump-start talks with North Korea, but Pyongyang has shown little interest in diplomacy aimed at containing its nuclear programme.
The US has received no response from North Korea on holding a Trump-Kim meeting, and there is little time left before a regional summit in China next month where it might occur, said the five people — four of them briefed by senior officials from the US and South Korea, as well as a South Korean official.
North Korean state media has said Pyongyang would put tough conditions on agreeing to a bilateral summit, potentially including sanctions relief, even as Kim’s powerful sister has said the two leaders have an “excellent” relationship.
In August, the Republican president said he planned to meet with Kim later this year and 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 per cent chance of Trump and Kim meeting on the sidelines of the November 18-19 summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation group in Shenzhen, China.
But on Monday, Trump, who met Kim three times in his first term, downplayed the prospects of such a meeting happening during the APEC meeting or a regional summit in the Philippines, also in November.
