Seoul: Trump–Kim Summit Preparations 'Almost Nonexistent' Despite Trump's May This Month Comment

A senior South Korean government official stated on May 14, 2026 that preparations for a possible Trump–Kim summit appear 'almost nonexistent,' despite US President Trump having told South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on May 12 that he could meet Kim Jong-un 'as early as this month.' The official said the possibility 'cannot be ruled out' given Trump's unpredictability, but emphasized no working-level diplomatic contacts between Washington and Pyongyang had been confirmed. Trump was completing his three-day state visit to Beijing (May 12–15), where he met Chinese President Xi Jinping on trade, Taiwan, and Korean Peninsula stability; Xi was assessed by analysts as potentially serving as an intermediary to facilitate US-DPRK contact. South Korean officials and NK News experts noted that any genuine Trump-Kim summit would require preliminary working-level meetings as groundwork — a process that did not visibly occur. Kim Jong-un had signaled conditional openness to US talks on May 10, stating he was willing to meet if Washington abandoned its precondition of full denuclearization before any engagement. Analysts noted the absence of preparatory groundwork makes a May 2026 summit logistically improbable despite both leaders' history of surprise diplomatic moves. Trump held two previous summits with Kim — Singapore (June 2018) and Hanoi (February 2019) — both ending without a denuclearization agreement.