Overview
- South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers that North Korea is preparing for dialogue with the United States, including calibrating its rhetoric and studying U.S. working-level officials.
- The agency assesses a high possibility of a Trump–Kim summit next year and identifies the period after March’s U.S.–South Korea drills as the likely window, later clarifying March as a turning point rather than a set date.
- Officials said signs indicated Pyongyang had readied for a potential meeting during the APEC week in South Korea, though no encounter took place.
- President Donald Trump has publicly signaled he will return to Asia to arrange a meeting with Kim Jong Un.
- Prospects for progress remain constrained as Pyongyang insists on de facto recognition as a nuclear power and enters any talks with greater leverage from advanced weapons programs and closer ties with Russia.