Beijing: A long-speculated meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un did not materialize during Trump's visit to Beijing this week as Trump focused on a high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the ongoing war with Iran.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Trump wrapped up his three-day trip to China on Friday without any known attempt for the resumption of dialogue with Kim, though speculation had persisted that he could seek to reengage with the North Korean leader while in China, a traditional partner of Pyongyang.
Last Monday, a White House official told Yonhap News Agency via email that a Trump-Kim meeting was "not currently" scheduled during Trump's trip to Beijing.
In the lead-up to his China trip, Trump was already preoccupied with pressing issues, including deadlocked negotiations with Iran to end the Middle East war and reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz, limiting his diplomatic bandwidth for engagement with Pyongyang.
During his visit to South Korea in late October ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, speculation also swirled that Trump could attempt to meet Kim. On his way back to Washington, Trump told reporters that he was too busy in South Korea to meet Kim but would come back for a meeting.
Trump has remained open to dialogue with the North despite questions over whether the reclusive state would be willing to resume diplomacy with the United States given that it has deepened economic and military partnerships with Russia under a "comprehensive strategic partnership" treaty signed in June 2024.
Trump had three in-person meetings with Kim during his first term: the first meeting in Singapore in June 2018, the second in Hanoi in February 2019, and the third at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in June 2019.