President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the border in the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, which separates the two Koreas, in June 2019. File Photo by Korean Central News Agency/EPA
When Donald Trump declared aboard Air Force One that he was “100% open” to meeting Kim Jong Un during his Asia tour — and even acknowledged that North Korea is “sort of a nuclear power” with “a lot of nuclear weapons” — it became clear he was sincere about rekindling dialogue.
Yet Kim Jong Un has shown no willingness to respond. During the APEC Summit in Gyeongju, a Trump-Kim encounter now appears highly unlikely.
Still, if and when Kim eventually chooses to answer Trump’s renewed signals, there are three proposals that would be most suitable for opening a fresh chapter — one that avoids empty theatrics and lays groundwork for meaningful diplomacy.
Even if political theatre surrounds any future engagement, the stakes remain serious.
For the United States, the core objectives are unchanged: preventing North Korea’s permanent nuclear status and advancing accountability for human rights abuses.
For Pyongyang, the goals continue to be regime legitimacy, security guarantees and sanctions relief.
The question is not whether a brief meeting — or an informal encounter — could solve these issues outright. Rather, it is whether such a moment can start a process that leads somewhere real. The answer is yes, but only if Washington offers Kim something he cannot easily dismiss.
Appeal to the family: A U.S. study opportunity
The opening move need not be grand. Trump understands the power of personal gestures. By referencing Kim’s children — or even future heirs — and offering U.S. educational opportunities, he could present a proposal that is difficult for Kim to refuse and inexpensive for Washington to provide.
A limited, carefully managed scholarship or cultural exchange program for children of North Korea’s elite would echo Kim’s own formative years in Switzerland, appealing to a sense of prestige, aspiration and normalcy rather than ideology.
Such a gesture frames the encounter as personal rather than confrontational. It gives Kim a “take-home win” that is non-threatening to his regime narrative and opens a discreet channel through which young North Koreans studying in the United States could, over time, become informal bridges between two societies. It does not demand immediate denuclearization, yet it quietly accumulates goodwill and influence.
Ringfence tourism and sports diplomacy at Wonsan
If the first step softens the atmosphere, the next should align with Kim’s personal pride project: the Wonsan-Kalma Resort. Trump could propose hosting a high-profile sporting event there — such as a special UFC match.
This idea fits both leaders’ tastes. Trump has long been an enthusiastic UFC follower, having attended major events and even floated hosting a UFC match at the White House.
Kim, equally, is a well-known sports fan. State media frequently shows him enjoying “Juche martial arts” and special forces demonstrations, and he has openly admired the NBA — especially the Chicago Bulls — famously inviting Dennis Rodman to Pyongyang multiple times.
There is precedent for the diplomatic power of spectacle. In 1995, North Korea hosted Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki and American wrestler Ric Flair for a large-scale wrestling event in Pyongyang.
I was 10 years old at the time and vividly remember the excitement. Children talked endlessly about the matches for weeks. That event subtly shifted public sentiment, fostering curiosity and more favorable perceptions of Japan. Japanese products grew more popular in the aftermath.
In today’s tightly controlled information environment in North Korea, a UFC-style event could have an even greater impact — sparking deeper curiosity about the outside world and softening anti-American narratives.
A sports-tourism collaboration at Wonsan would signal Washington’s willingness to engage beyond hard-security frameworks, while allowing Pyongyang to showcase itself without requiring structural concessions. What looks like entertainment could, in reality, be soft diplomacy that lowers psychological barriers and sets the stage for deeper engagement.
Quietly address North Korea’s troop deployment in Russia
Once the atmosphere is warmed by personal and cultural gestures, Trump could gently introduce a more serious, but manageable, security topic: North Korea’s deployment of troops to assist Russia in the Ukraine war.
Instead of leading with a “denuclearize or else” demand, Trump could use a leadership-to-leadership tone: “There is no need to keep sending young men to die. The war will end. If you withdraw your troops and stop supplying weapons, peace will come sooner.”
Coupled with a subtle reminder that prolonged conflict will trigger greater Western support for Ukraine, increasing North Korean casualties, this gives Kim a way to make a “wise leader’s decision” rather than a concession.
This also provides Kim with a face-saving exit from a costly entanglement and creates a bridge toward broader security and sanctions-related dialogue without making them the headline.
To end on a culturally warm note, Trump could invite Kim to watch an NBA game in the United States, circling back to a shared passion as a forward-looking symbol.
The next meeting cannot be just optics
If a future Trump-Kim meeting remains limited to a photo-op with no substance, no strategic seed and no follow-up, then it would hand Pyongyang a propaganda victory with little benefit to U.S. interests. The history of U.S.-DPRK summit diplomacy shows that grand optics without structured follow-through produce stagnation, not breakthroughs.
Even if a future encounter is informal, brief or driven by media impact, it must carry a narrow list of objectives: prestige for Kim, small but durable openings for the United States and subtle signals of strategic direction. Done right, it could be the thin thread that gradually weaves into a fabric of real diplomacy. Done poorly, it becomes just another photo in the archive.
In the end, Trump’s strength lies in his ability to offer unconventional proposals that break protocol and seize attention. If another diplomatic opening emerges — whether at a global summit, through an unplanned encounter, or a third-country meeting — the United States must stay focused on the long-term goals: dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program and advancing human rights and democratic freedoms.
Educational exchanges, sports diplomacy, and tourism collaboration are not the destination. They are stepping stones toward genuine change in North Korea.
Kim has ignored Trump’s recent outreach. But when he eventually responds, these three proposals may be the most effective way to start again, not with a show but with a strategy.
Hyunseung Lee is a North Korean escapee and lead strategist at the Global Peace Foundation, with prior experience in North Korea’s shipping and mining sectors and as a sergeant in the DPRK Army Special Force. He defected in 2014 due to severe governmental purges, and he holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Dongbei University of Finance and Economics and a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University.
