North Korea: Will Trump-Kim talks happen anytime soon?
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- North Korea launched 10 short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Thursday, its third missile firing in two weeks per Leif-Eric Easley of Ewha Womans University
- Kim Yo Jong dismissed Trump's claim of upcoming talks, said Pyongyang was "completely unaware of" any plans, called scaling back the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises "unworthy of comment," and indicated only fully canceling the drills would count as a "goodwill measure"
- Choo Jae-woo of Kyung Hee University said North Korea is in a position of power and unwilling to talk because Kim was humiliated when Trump walked out of the 2019 Hanoi talks over nuclear disarmament
- North Korea has forged a security and economic alliance with Russia since Hanoi, gaining military technology, energy and consumer goods previously blocked by sanctions while sending ammunition, missiles and soldiers to Moscow's war in Ukraine
- Kim Jong Un benefits financially from the illegal arms trade with Russia and gains leverage to demand more support from Beijing, while North Korea's official position is it will never discuss giving up nuclear weapons
- Trump has not confirmed a date or venue for talks; the APEC forum on November 18-19 in Shenzhen is floated as a possibility, with US midterm elections on November 3 adding political urgency
Why it matters: North Korea enters any Trump talks with leverage he didn't have in his first term — a Russia-backed war economy and battlefield-tested arms trade — making the Hanoi humiliation harder to overcome. Seoul fears being sidelined in any US-North Korea deal, and the November 3 midterms add stated political urgency to Trump's timeline.
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