Trump to meet with Kim Jong-un before end of year

President Donald Trump stated that he plans to meet with North Korea's supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, before the end of the year. Just as the exact date is unknown, it is also unclear at this time whether the meeting will take place in Washington, D.C.; Pyongyang or elsewhere.

"Yes, I will be," Trump replied when asked by several reporters at the White House whether he would be having a face-to-face meeting with Kim. "I get along with him very well," the president added.

The president's statement comes hours after Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korea's supreme leader and a possible future successor, stated that she was "unaware" when asked about relations between her country and the United States or whether she knew anything about a hypothetical meeting between her brother and Trump.

At that meeting, Trump and Kim will discuss various geopolitical issues and the development of nuclear weapons, as the top leaders of the few countries in the world that possess such an arsenal.

During his first term, Trump met with Kim on three occasions. The first was on June 12, 2018, in Singapore. At that summit, both leaders projected a positive rapport and reached agreements regarding the denuclearization of North Korea and the temporary suspension of joint U.S. military exercises with South Korea.

The second summit, held on Feb. 27 and 28, 2019, in Hanoi, Vietnam, ended in a clash between the two leaders, with Washington rejecting Pyongyang's proposal to lift sanctions in exchange for a partial dismantlement of its Yongbyon nuclear complex.

Finally, Trump and Kim met again on June 30, 2019, at the border between the two Koreas. The Republican briefly crossed the military demarcation line into North Korean territory, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to set foot on North Korean soil. At the meeting, they agreed to resume working-level talks, although no significant progress was made afterward.