Trump no longer meets with Kim Jong Un: “I want to see him, that was our goal, but the time could not be agreed”

US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he will not meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his ongoing Asian tour, as they could not “arrange the timing”, while North Korea conducted a new ballistic missile test just before the US president's arrival in South Korea, where the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum is taking place, writes Agerpres.

After weeks of anticipation, during which Trump appeared open to a meeting with Kim Jong Un, the American president finally decided that he would not meet with him.

“I want to see him, and that was really our goal for this visit, but we have other meetings and we're working hard with Kim Jong Un and everybody to resolve the issues,” Trump said during a working lunch with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jae-myung, in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit of leaders is being held.

He had previously said he would be willing to extend his visit to Asia for a meeting with Kim Jong Un, but ultimately said on Wednesday he would try to arrange such a meeting another time.

Also, the White House recently conveyed that Trump “will not set preconditions” for a possible meeting with Kim Jong Un, thus suggesting that the American president would have agreed to exclude from the agenda of discussions the topic of denuclearization of North Korea, as requested by Kim Jong Un for the resumption of the dialogue with the USA.

Shortly before Trump's arrival in South Korea, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported that Pyongyang had conducted a test of sea-launched strategic cruise missiles.

Six years after the historic meeting between Trump and Kim, held at Panmunjom, in the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas, Pyongyang appears stronger after strengthening its ties with Beijing, relations confirmed by the presence of Kim Jong Un at the military parade organized by China last month, on the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in the Pacific, an event where Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared alongside his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and by Kim Jong Un.

North Korea has also intensified its ties with Russia, with the two countries signing a strategic partnership treaty last year pledging to provide each other with military assistance in the event of aggression. By virtue of these privileged relationships, North Korea has supplied Russia with significant quantities of artillery ammunition and also military equipment, such as large-caliber Koksan howitzers, multiple rocket launchers, KN-23 ballistic missiles and anti-tank systems, to aid in the war with Ukraine. Moreover, about 15,000 North Korean soldiers participated in the battles for the liberation of the sector in the Russian province of Kursk occupied last August by Ukrainian troops.