Former U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he was unable to arrange a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his current visit to South Korea, ending widespread speculation over a possible fourth Trump-Kim summit.
Trump, who had earlier expressed his desire to “love to meet” Kim during his Asia trip, confirmed that “timing didn’t work out,” though he emphasized his continued willingness to engage with Pyongyang.
“I know Kim Jong Un very well… we really weren’t able to work out timing,” Trump told reporters, adding that he hopes to “straighten out” tensions between North and South Korea during his meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
The statement came just hours after North Korea test-fired cruise missiles off its western coast — a move widely interpreted as a warning to what Pyongyang calls its “enemies.”
President Lee described Trump’s invitation to Kim as a positive gesture, saying it created a “significant sense of warmth and peace on the Korean peninsula.”
Trump, who met Kim three times during his first term, said he still expects another meeting “in the not too distant future.”
“At some point, we’ll be involved with North Korea. I think they’d like to, and I’d like to,” he said aboard Air Force One.
Their last encounter took place at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Panmunjom, where Trump became the first U.S. president to step onto North Korean soil. That historic moment, however, failed to yield lasting progress as negotiations collapsed over disagreements on nuclear disarmament terms.
Since then, North Korea has declared itself an “irreversible nuclear state”, signaling a hardening stance as tensions once again rise on the Korean peninsula.
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