Trump open to talks with Kim, but no meeting scheduled

Atlanta: US President Donald Trump is open to meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un if the talks could produce useful results, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, while stressing that no meeting had been scheduled.

Speaking at the conclusion of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, Rubio said Trump was willing to discuss issues affecting the United States and its allies, including South Korea.

He made no announcement about preparations, a venue or a timetable. His remarks described the President’s willingness to engage rather than a confirmed diplomatic initiative.

“I don’t have anything to announce in regard to that today.”

Rubio was responding to a question about what concrete steps the administration was taking to bring North Korea back to negotiations. He pointed to Trump’s public statements expressing readiness for talks but did not identify a new agreement to begin them.

“I think if something productive can come from such talks, he’d be open to doing it again, but we don’t have any announcement on that. Nothing’s been scheduled in that regard.”

Rubio said Trump’s approach differed from the view that granting a meeting was itself a diplomatic reward. The President, he said, did not regard contact with another leader as an endorsement of that leader’s government.

“The President doesn’t view talks, doesn’t view meeting with someone as a concession.”

He said Trump would be open to engagement if North Korea was prepared to address matters of concern to Washington and its allies. Rubio did not specify an agenda or set out conditions for a meeting.

The exchange also touched on concerns about US-South Korean relations, including visa issues involving South Korean lawmakers. Rubio said Washington would address the visa matter bilaterally rather than discuss its details at the press conference.

Separately, he highlighted a trilateral meeting with Japan and South Korea on the sidelines of the G20 gathering. The three countries had signed a memorandum of cooperation involving the Arctic, he said.

Rubio described its purpose as supporting peaceful relations and commerce while keeping the region free from coercion. He did not link that agreement to a prospective meeting with Kim.

His comments on North Korea reflected an argument he also made when defending engagement with Russia: diplomatic contact could be necessary even when Washington had serious disagreements with another government.

Asked about Russian participation in the G20, Rubio said efforts to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war required communication with both Moscow and Kyiv. He argued that talking to a government did not mean accepting everything it did.

Rubio said the Atlanta gathering itself had concentrated on economic challenges, including energy, supply chains and maritime access. Separate diplomatic exchanges took place alongside that programme, with time set aside for countries to meet.

Trump and Kim first met in Singapore in June 2018, the first summit between a sitting US President and a North Korean leader. Their second summit, in Hanoi in February 2019. The two leaders met again at the Korean demilitarised zone in June 2019.

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