WASHINGTON (TNND) — Images of President Donald Trump meeting with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un back in 2018 and 2019 were for some shocking displays of affection and respect.

The president confirmed Wednesday he’s planning for a repeat performance.

The Wall Street Journalreported Trump is pushing for another meeting this year, possibly in November, when world leaders will gather for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China.

Trump told reporters Wednesday, “He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons. Should’ve never allowed it to happen in. I know Kim Jong Un very well and he’s gonna be fine as long as we have a smart president; he’s gonna be fine. If we have a dumb president, then he’s probably not gonna be so fine.

When asked by a reporter if he expected to meet Kim later this year, Trump responded, “Yeah, I will be.”

But experts assert the meetings the last time around had the opposite effect of Trump’s stated goal, to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear program

“North Korea has done nothing but increase the size of its arsenal and range of its missiles,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a Professor at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU.

In an interview with The National News Desk on Wednesday, Dr. Jong Eun Lee, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at North Greenville University, said if anything, Kim Jong Un has far more leverage today.

“It’s much more difficult place because North Korea has something it didn’t have eight years ago, which is strategic partnership with China and Russia. It seems as if North Korea’s calculation has been that ultimately Trump, or the U.S. government is not reliable. They promise much, but the promises are not sustainable. In that case, it seems ever since then, those Korea has been looking to see whether China and Russia can offer much more reliable long term guarantees for cloning. And so far, they seem to be getting that,” he said.

Also this week, there was a break in tradition in U.S. relations with another Asian country – South Korea.

In a post online, President Donald Trump ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to substantially reduce the joint military exercises.

He called the drills “costly” and” inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, blaming South Korea for its lack of support for the United States in the Iran war.

“We have 39,000 soldiers over there guarding you from Kim Jong Un, your next door neighbor. And you’re not going to help us on a very easy military operation in Iran. That’s strange. No, no, we’d rather not get involved. I said, Well, why are we involved in helping you?” Trump said Monday.

Many in Washington have slammed the move.

In a post on X, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said, “North and South Korea are still technically at war. Our ability to help defend our ally against the North Koreans is because our forces are well trained and able to coordinate with the South Koreans. Hollowing out these joint exercises is shortsighted and a mistake.”

In an interview on CNN Wednesday, former Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said,

“ That was an exercise that we conducted with South Korea. It’s an annual exercise. It’s to test our interoperability and it’s to project power to North Korea and to China.20 (BUTT WHITE FLASH) 31 He likes strongmen. And it’s just a very interesting tactic that we’ve seen this administration time and again take when it comes to cozying up with our adversaries.”

In a statement, the South Korean Embassy in the United States said it hoped the friendly relationship between President Trump and Kim Jong Un would lead to “meaningful dialogue” and help advance stability on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korean leaders, though, are also pushing for more military independence from the United States, with more need for their own nuclear capabilities.