Breaking News: North Korea has ‘set the tone’ with US and Trump should be worried, expert warns….See More

EXCLUSIVE: After US President Donald Trump returned to power for a second term at the White House, he has talked about reaching out to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

A growing partnership with Russia presumably indicates that North Korea will depend less on its diplomatic relationship with the United States, said an expert.

After US President Donald Trump returned to power for a second term at the White House, he has talked about reaching out to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

During a Fox News interview broadcast in January, Trump called Kim “a smart guy” and “not a religious zealot.”

While it is “plausible” for Trump and Kim to meet, what makes the second term different is Pyongyang’s experience in dealing with the Trump administration, said Dr. Edward Howell, a political lecturer, and North Korea expert at Christ Church College, the University of Oxford.

Not only will Kim Jong Un likely want to obtain clear, tangible concessions from any meeting (e.g. sanctions easing) but he may also not wish to negotiate with Trump at all, for the time being, given how Russia is already fulfilling Pyongyang’s need,” he said.

Trump’s three meetings with Kim during his first term in office hit a snag when the US President turned down Kim’s offer to dismantle his primary nuclear facility. However, before taking office this year, Trump called Kim’s nation a “nuclear power.”

“Now he is a nuclear power. But we got along. I think he’ll be happy to see I’m coming back,” Trump said about Kim.

In June 2024, Russia and North Korea signed a defense pact. Since then, Moscow has supplied Pyongyang with medicine, coal, and food as part of the strategic partnership.

North Korea has sent around 12,000 troops to fight alongside Russian forces in the nearly three-year-long war in Ukraine and continues to send reinforcements despite great losses.

South Korea has said that around 300 North Koreans have died in the conflict and 2,700 have been injured. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that about 4,000 North Korean troops have been killed or injured.

Due to their “renewed rapprochement,” Moscow and Pyongyang have been relying on each other for food, oil, financial assistance, and possibly advanced missile and military technology, Howell said.

Paying attention to the “possible dialogue” between the US and North Korea is of utmost importance, Howell said.

North Korea has already “set the tone” by dismissing Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comments about North Korea being a “rogue state.”

Rubio’s coarse and nonsensical remarks only show directly the incorrect view of the new U.S. administration on the DPRK and will never help promote the U.S. interests as he wishes,” Pyongyang said in a statement to state-run media.

After testing an intercontinental ballistic missile in October 2024, Kim vowed to strengthen his nuclear force to combat the US and its allies.

“Crucially, North Korea wants to ensure that the ball is firmly in its court with respect to deciding when and how negotiations take place,” Howell said.