- Donald Trump reportedly wants to make a deal with the North Korean leader
- It would allow Kim Jong Un to keep his existing nuclear warheads
- But he would get help and sanctions relief because he agreed not to build anymore
Donald Trump is reportedly considering the idea of striking a deal with North Korea's Kim Jong-un that would allow him to keep some nuclear weapons if he wins a second term next year.
People familiar with his thinking said he was exploring a deal that would lift some sanctions as part of an agreement to stop building nuclear warheads.
But Trump himself dismissed the idea later Wednesday, saying it was “fake news.”
South Korea's spy agency recently said it expected its secretive neighbor to carry out a nuclear test next year – the first since 2017.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are already at their highest level in years.
Kim is believed to be accelerating his nuclear and missile programs and has enshrined in law his country's right to carry out pre-emptive strikes.
President Donald Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam in February 2019
This photo provided by the North Korean government shows what it claims is an intercontinental ballistic missile during a launch exercise in Pyongyang, North Korea on March 16, 2023
Against that backdrop, Trump is reportedly eager to make a deal.
“He knows he wants a deal,” a source said Politics. 'What kind of deal? I don't think he thought it through.”
Such thinking would upend Washington's stance on North Korea and Trump's own hardline stance, but would also benefit from the former president's friendly relationship with his North Korean leader.
One of the ideas being considered, sources told the newspaper, would involve encouraging Kim to freeze his nuclear program in exchange for aid and some relief from economic sanctions.
It would include a verification mechanism to ensure he kept his word.
Hours after the story was published, Trump took to social media to deny the plan.
“A Fake News article in Politico, via anonymous sources (as usual!), states that my views on nuclear weapons in North Korea have softened,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“This is a fabricated story, DISINFORMATION, put forth by Democrats to deceive and confuse. The only thing that makes sense in the story is that I get along well with Kim Jong Un!;
Current US policy demands that Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons.
Trump and Kim met again in the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea on June 30, 2019
Kim took part in a commemorative photo with participants at the Fifth National Mothers' Convention in Pyongyang earlier this month
Trump took a tough stance on Kim after North Korea tested its first ICBM in 2017
Part of Trump's motivation for changing course is reportedly that it would allow a new administration to save resources and energy on pointless arms talks, which could focus on the larger threat from China.
But it would likely rile allies like Japan and South Korea, as well as Republicans in Congress.
During his first term, Trump's position was encompassed by the acronym CVID, or “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization.”
Tensions rose after North Korea tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile, and Trump vowed to rain “fire and fury” on Kim's hermit nation if it threatened the US.
He called Kim “little rocket man” and at one point even discussed the idea of launching a nuclear attack on North Korea and blaming it on another country.
His approach was later softened. The two leaders met in 2019 and sent personal letters, although their relationship did not yield an agreement on North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
Experts estimate that North Korea has built at least 40 nuclear warheads and could have more than 100.
Trump is the clear frontrunner to win the 2024 Republican nomination, currently leading President Joe Biden in the national polls.