Will Trump meet Kim? “Meeting Xi really is the main goal.”

The director of the Center for East Asian Policy Research at the Brookings Institution, Andrew Yeo, expressed skepticism in an interview with the Yonhap agency regarding the possibility of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, on the occasion of the APEC summit in South Korea. However, he did not completely rule out this possibility.

Yeo justified his doubts by the short period of Trump's stay in South Korea. (October 29-30) and the main purpose of the visit, which is a meeting of the American president with the leader of China, Xi Jinping.

“Trump will only be in Korea for two days and won't even attend the leaders' meeting. It's a very short trip, and the Xi-Trump meeting really is the main goal,” he noted. The meeting of APEC leaders is scheduled for October 31 – November 1.

“I'm not sure whether Trump's team has enough resources to also organize a meeting with Kim. It's a logistical issue,” the expert added.

You never know what Trump will do

Despite this, the analyst admitted that the possibility of such a meeting exists. Yeo cited reports of informal discussions among U.S. officials about organizing a Trump-Kim conversation and plans to suspend trips to the demilitarized zone in Panmunjom, on the border of South Korea. and North Korea

“You never know what he (Trump) will do. He could send a tweet and say, 'I'm on the peninsula, it would be nice to say hello to Kim,'” Yeo said, referring to Trump's surprise meeting with Kim in Panmunjom in June 2019.

The expert also commented on Kim's level of readiness to re-engage in talks with the US. In this context, Yeo pointed to Pyongyang's deepening relations with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

“It is unclear whether he (Kim) would like this meeting now. He met with Putin, he met with Xi,” the analyst noted.

North and South. Can South Korea count on the USA?

Yeo expressed the view that South Korean President Li Jae Mjung can rely on Trump to resume dialogue with Pyongyang, given the current inter-Korean tensions.

“In a sense, for Li to have any significance in Kim's eyes, it has to go through Trump, or the US has to play a mediator role,” he said.

Relations with North Korea are to be discussed during the expected meeting between Li and Trump in South Korea. “They will have to talk about something, especially if there is no trade deal. And that is something that unites them,” Yeo noted.

The expert predicts that Seoul and Washington may announce certain arrangements regarding trade and security, e.g. regarding the presence of American troops in South Korea. (PAP)

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