Trump Open to Both Phone and Face-to-Face Talks with Kim Jong Un: “The Ball Is Now in North Korea’s Court”

Senior U.S. Official: “Trump Ready to Talk with Kim Jong Un”

A senior U.S. official has revealed that U.S. President Donald Trump is willing not only to hold a face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but also to have a phone conversation.

During a phone briefing on September 18 (local time) ahead of the upcoming state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the senior U.S. official was asked whether President Trump might seek talks with Chairman Kim during the U.S.-China summit. The official responded, “The President’s message has already been conveyed quite publicly.”

U.S. President Donald Trump posted a photo taken with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Panmunjom on the 25th on his Truth Social media platform. Trump Truth

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The official added, “President Trump is ready to speak with Kim Jong Un, either by phone or in person,” and stated, “I think the ball is now quite clearly in North Korea’s court.”

However, the official did not specify what kind of cooperation President Trump would ask of President Xi during the U.S.-China summit scheduled for September 24 regarding the resumption of U.S.-North Korea talks.

This is why there is growing interest in whether President Trump will move to resume talks with North Korea on the occasion of his summit with President Xi. Some observers have suggested that President Trump might even seek advice from President Xi about his relationship with Chairman Kim.

Earlier, on the first of this month, the White House reaffirmed President Trump’s willingness to talk with Chairman Kim without preconditions in response to a question about preparations for a U.S.-North Korea summit.

On August 19, President Trump avoided giving a specific answer when asked if the goal of resuming talks with North Korea was still “denuclearization of North Korea,” saying, “I don’t want to talk about that.”

This has been interpreted as an effort to keep the agenda flexible in order to resume dialogue, given that North Korea has set clear boundaries against denuclearization negotiations. On the other hand, there are concerns that if talks resume, the issue of denuclearization might take a back seat in the negotiations.

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Recently, North Korea has repeatedly emphasized its status as a nuclear-armed state and has continued to reject denuclearization demands.

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