The National Intelligence Service(NIS) says incoming U.S. President Donald Trump may seek to engage in dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his second term.
Senior members of the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee said the spy agency revealed its assessment Monday during a briefing, citing the fact that Trump regards his summit with Kim as a key achievement during his first term.
The agency said dialogue between Trump and Kim is a possibility also given that Trump named a close aide, Richard Grenell, as his presidential envoy for special missions and Alex Wong, who handled negotiations with North Korea during Trump’s first term in office, as deputy national security adviser.
The NIS said Trump might seek small concessions from the North, such as disarmament steps or a nuclear freeze, should he conclude that complete denuclearization is unrealistic in a short time.
The agency added that Trump is likely to remain passive on North Korean human rights issues during his second term, as he was in his first, stressing that Seoul should prevent negotiations on the nuclear issue that exclude the South.