President Donald Trump said Wednesday he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year, seeking to revive personal diplomacy forged during his first term.
Trump told reporters at the White House it was important to "get along" with Kim, adding in an unusually precise assessment that Pyongyang now had 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons.
But Trump's sudden focus on Kim and his scaling back of joint U.S.-South Korean military drills have alarmed Asian allies – while sparking speculation that he is seeking a foreign policy win as his Iran war stalls.
"Yeah, I will be," Trump said during a tour of a new helipad at the White House, when asked if he planned to meet Kim later in 2026.
Trump defended planning to meet the North Korean leader even as he wages a war with Iran that he has justified on the grounds of preventing Tehran from getting a nuclear bomb.
