United States President Donald Trump has explained that he was too busy during his recent visit to South Korea to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un but suggested that he could return soon for talks.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he left Busan, Trump said he wanted to focus on his main engagements in South Korea and not divert attention from them.
“We never were able to talk because I was so busy, and really, this is why we came. I think it would have been maybe disrespectful to the importance of this meeting if we did that. So I’d come back, with respect to Kim Jong Un, I’d come back,” Trump stated. He explained that his trip’s priority was his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, emphasizing that a side meeting with Kim would have distracted from that agenda.
The former president, who met Kim three times during his first term in Singapore, Hanoi, and the Demilitarised Zone reiterated that he maintained a good relationship with the North Korean leader. “I know Kim Jong Un very well, we get along very well,” he said, adding that he would be open to resuming direct talks in the future.
Trump’s remarks come amid renewed speculation about a possible revival of dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang, which has stalled since his administration ended. Analysts believe his comments signal an ongoing interest in rekindling diplomatic discussions on denuclearisation and regional security in East Asia.
South Korean officials, however, confirmed that there were no concrete preparations for any meeting between the two leaders during Trump’s visit. They described his remarks as “personal reflections” rather than formal diplomatic planning.
Trump’s visit to South Korea centered on regional trade and security discussions, particularly his meeting with Xi Jinping. Yet his statement about “coming back” to meet Kim has sparked new curiosity about whether he intends to play a future role in North Korea-U.S. relations if re-elected.
