What does Kim Jong-un have in mind with Trump planning to reach out to him

U.S. President Donald Trump has recently shown his intention to engage in talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, but this gesture looks to be met by Kim maintaining a hard-line approach.

Today, we take a closer look at another possible dialogue between these two men.

Our correspondent Kim Bo-kyoung joins us in the studio.

Bo-kyoung, North Korea's first response towards the Trump administration was not that friendly.

Tell us more about that. And what is Pyongyang thinking?

As you have already said, North Korea recently released its first official criticism of the Trump administration, condemning Secretary Rubio for calling Pyongyang a "rogue state" during an interview with a journalist.

Regarding this, the regime's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday that Rubio's remarks reaffirm how Washington's hostile policy toward the North remains unchanged, and that the regime will not tolerate any provocation by the U.S.

This comes after Trump said late last month that he planned to engage with Kim.

“He happens to be a smart guy. Kim Jong Un is a smart guy.”

This raised the prospects of a potential dialogue between Trump and Kim.

Instead of responding to this, however, Pyongyang is sending a message to Washington via its foreign ministry, which said that if there was no change in words or actions from the U.S. regarding its "hostile policy" then the North would continue its hard-line approach, and also with Kim visiting a nuclear material production base.

One expert says Pyongyang wants preconditions to be met for a dialogue to resume.

"Pyongyang is demanding the U.S. to respect its sovereignty, not to interfere in its internal affairs, and to suspend South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises."

If Pyongyang and Washington do engage in potential dialogue, what are the chances of Trump going for the so-called "small deal?"

To answer that question, we would have to first talk about what exactly the "small deal" is.

A "small deal" can be seen as an initial or intermediate step to achieve the ultimate goal of complete denuclearization.

For now, however, a "big deal" is unfeasible at the moment, with even officials and experts being pessimistic about it.

And thus the small deal is deemed a more pragmatic approach, primarily focusing on reducing the nuclear and missile threat North Korea poses to the U.S. such as with a nuclear freeze and halt to weapons tests particularly ICBMs.

Trump would want to see some achievement within his term, so he will likely go for this first.

And experts say even such a "small deal" would be a big achievement.

"If the small deal goes well and mutual trust is built, it can serve as a foundation for the next step, ultimately leading to complete denuclearization. However, the current level of distrust between North Korea and the U.S. is so deep that even achieving a small deal would be considered a significant success."

One thing we need to note is that while the U.S. aims to manage North Korea’s nuclear threats through a disarmament deal instead of complete denuclearization, there is the possibility the U.S. might suspend joint military exercises with South Korea.

"In the past, a moratorium was implemented with Pyongyang agreeing to suspend nuclear tests and ICBM launches, while Washington scaled down South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises and stopped the deployment of strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula. Trump could consider such similar measures again."

When Kim and Trump do start such negotiations, some express concerns that South Korea could be left out.

What do you think?

Right, given that North Korean leader Kim is sending messages to Trump hinting at preconditions for the talks to start again, it seems clear that direct dialogue between those two is soon approaching.

Considering the political turmoil South Korea is dealing with, we cannot say Seoul's preparations for a potential Kim-Trump summit are enough.

Experts say however, the U.S. would not be able to just leave out its ally's say regarding the issue.

"There will be sufficient discussions between Seoul and Washington over the agenda, location and timing of the talks before Washington starts contacting Pyongyang. Also, the U.S. will try to persuade North Korea to engage in inter-Korean dialogue, either before the North Korea-U.S. talks or concurrently with them."

Alright, thank you Bo-kyoung for the explanation.

We appreciate it.

My pleasure.

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