President Donald Trump suggested Friday, October 24, 2025, that his inability to arrange a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his upcoming Asia tour stems from North Korea’s inadequate telephone infrastructure—a claim that left reporters and diplomats stunned as he spoke aboard Air Force One.
The 79-year-old president was asked whether he planned to meet with Kim during his five-day diplomatic trip to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea when he made the unusual assertion. Trump indicated he remained open to such a meeting but suggested reporters might need to help spread the word since conventional communication channels appeared unavailable.
“You know, they don’t have a lot of telephone service. They have a lot of nuclear weapons, but not a lot of telephone service,” Trump said, adding that he maintained a positive relationship with the North Korean leader, who probably knew about his travel plans.
The president elaborated that aside from internet access, North Korea had very limited telephonic service, seemingly placing responsibility on journalists to communicate his willingness to meet. The comments raised questions about why Trump—who commands a diplomatic corps of approximately 80,000 foreign service employees—would rely on the White House press pool to contact a foreign leader rather than using official State Department channels.
North Korea’s communications limitations stem less from technological deficiencies and more from the totalitarian regime’s stringent controls over mobile networks and internet access. While ordinary citizens face severe restrictions on international calls, foreign number access and domestic communications—all subject to state surveillance—there remains little evidence suggesting Kim or his immediate team operate under similar constraints.
Trump departed Washington on Friday night for the Asian tour, marking his first visit to the region since returning to office in January. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accompanied the president on the trip, which included stops for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meetings in Busan on Oct. 29 and 30.
The president also planned to meet Qatar’s emir during a refueling stop en route to Malaysia. Trump landed in Malaysia on Sunday morning local time before heading to South Korea on Wednesday to meet with South Korean leader Lee Jae Myung. Trump visited Japan on Oct. 28 and 29, meeting with Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Speculation about a potential Trump-Kim meeting intensified as South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who handles relations between North and South Korea, acknowledged the possibility during Trump’s attendance at the APEC forum on Oct. 29-30. However, a senior U.S. official stated that no such meeting appeared on the president’s schedule and the meeting did not happen.
The diplomatic overture would not mark the first time Trump met with Kim. During his first term, Trump made history as the first sitting U.S. president to step into North Korea, briefly crossing its border with South Korea. The two leaders held three meetings during that period, with Trump later describing their relationship as positive.
Kim recently indicated openness to meeting Trump again, provided Washington dropped its demand that Pyongyang abandon its nuclear arsenal. In a speech last month reported by state media, Kim said he still had good memories of the American president.
When pressed further aboard Air Force One about what else he might be open to discussing, Trump appeared willing to consider formally recognizing North Korea as a nuclear power—a step even the country’s allies Russia and China have not endorsed. The president acknowledged that North Korea represented a de facto nuclear-armed state, claiming knowledge of their weapons inventory.
North Korea is believed to possess between 40 and 60 nuclear warheads. Any recognition of the country as a nuclear power under the UN-brokered 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty remains firmly opposed by 191 of the world’s 195 states that signed the agreement, including the United States.
Trump’s comments came as he left behind a United States grappling with an ongoing government shutdown that began Oct. 1. The shutdown continued with no resolution in sight as Democrats maintained their demands to extend critical health insurance subsidies and halt Trump’s attempts to cancel congressionally approved spending before approving a budget.
Trump and China’s President Xi met on Thursday, October 30, 2025, at Gimhae Air Base in Busan, South Korea, and Trump is already heading back to the United States.
