Seoul Says Trump-Kim Talks at APEC Summit Remain on Table

(MENAFN) A senior South Korean official stated on Saturday that the prospect of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea “cannot be ruled out,” according to a South Korean news agency.

“As of now, it is difficult to say conclusively, but we cannot rule out the possibility (of a Trump-Kim meeting),” the official told reporters.

Despite this, North Korea has shown no signs that Kim will attend the summit, and Seoul has not extended an invitation since Pyongyang is not an APEC member.

Trump is slated to attend the summit scheduled for October 31 to November 1 in the southeastern city of Gyeongju. Last month, he expressed openness to meeting Kim “at some point” again, referencing their historic summits during his first term, although North Korea was not mentioned in his recent speech at the UN General Assembly.

During Trump’s first term, he and Kim met three times, including a landmark 2019 encounter at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the heavily fortified border separating North and South Korea. Notably, Trump briefly stepped onto North Korean soil during that visit, marking a first for a sitting US president.

Earlier this week, Kim addressed a parliamentary session, stating there was “no reason to avoid dialogue with the US” if Washington dropped its denuclearization demands.

On Tuesday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told the UN General Assembly that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is unlikely in the near future and urged an end to the “vicious cycle” of hostility and military tensions with Pyongyang.

The Korean Peninsula remains technically at war, as the 1950–53 conflict concluded with an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty.

MENAFN28092025000045017169ID1110120653