Trump Expresses Interest in Meeting Kim Jong-un 'As Early As This Month' During Beijing Visit

During US President Trump's state visit to Beijing (May 12–15, 2026), South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo reported that Trump told him he 'could meet Kim Jong-un as early as this month.' No meeting had been confirmed by May 13. Trump's comment came on the sidelines of his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, where Korean Peninsula stability was a secondary agenda item. North Korea was not a primary focus of the Trump-Xi talks, which centered on trade and Taiwan. NK News and South Korean officials noted that any Trump-Kim summit would likely require preliminary talks at the working level — a step that has not occurred. Trump previously held summits with Kim in Singapore (June 2018) and Hanoi (February 2019), both of which produced no denuclearization agreement. Kim's recent signal of openness to talks — conditional on the US dropping its denuclearization precondition — appears to have opened diplomatic space.