Trump and Kim Jong Un May Meet Next Month... Manila or Shenzhen in the Running

[Financial News] U.S. President Donald Trump said he could meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in November, prompting a flood of speculation about where the meeting might take place. The leading possibilities are Shenzhen in China's Guangdong Province and Manila in the Philippines.
According to foreign media outlets including Japan's NHK, Trump spoke to reporters at the White House on the 12th (local time) and discussed his Asia trip. Asked whether he planned to meet Kim during the trip, he said, “That’s possible.” Trump said that if the meeting took place, “It would be exciting, wouldn’t it?” and added, “I get along well with Kim.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an announcement last November that Trump could attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, scheduled to be held in Shenzhen on Nov. 18–19. Trump has not explicitly mentioned attending the APEC summit since then, but local media, citing officials, have speculated that he would join it. In this connection, Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 2nd, citing a source, that Trump would attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Manila, the Philippines, on Nov. 16–18 before traveling to Shenzhen. He last visited Manila in 2017 to attend the ASEAN summit.
It has not been confirmed whether Trump will meet Kim in Manila or Shenzhen. North Korea is a member of neither APEC nor ASEAN. After facing diplomatic difficulties due to the Iran war in the first half of this year, Trump has since August made a concerted effort to emphasize his rapport with Kim and said he would meet him within the year. On the 3rd, he also suggested that North Korea has 112 nuclear weapons and said the United States should get along with nuclear-armed countries.
Kim did not respond to Trump's remarks. On the 11th, marking the 81st anniversary of the founding of the ruling party, he attended the opening ceremony of the Second Economic Commission's Defense Revolution Museum. At the event, Kim inspected the Hwasong-20, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of striking the U.S. mainland, and stressed that the country would continue to strengthen its defense capabilities. South Korean Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha said at a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee in Washington, D.C., on the 12th that there were “no concrete signs” of a resumption of dialogue between North Korea and the United States, while adding, “I believe the possibility is always there.”
Meanwhile, Trump could also hold a trilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is hosting the APEC summit, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the trip. In a statement on the 1st, Putin said of the proposed trilateral meeting, “We are strongly in favor.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Zhaokun said at a news conference on the 3rd, “China welcomes President Putin's attendance at the APEC summit.”



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