--- title: Donald Trump's North Korea Meeting Will Take a Lot of Work description: President Donald Trump announced that he would have a historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a typically unplanned way. canonical: https://time.com/5193580/donald-trump-meeting-north-korea-announcement/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-09T21:59:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:02:10.644Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Wants to Meet with North Korea. That's Going to Take a Lot of Preparation og:description: "They're going to need to really beef up their team." og:url: https://time.com/5193580/donald-trump-meeting-north-korea-announcement/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21446e1ee9a97b1c/69892a50929fad6725befe5f/gettyimages-881258254.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4321 og:image:height: 2431 og:image:alt: TOPSHOT-SKOREA-NKOREA-MILITARY-MISSILE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Wants to Meet with North Korea. That's Going to Take a Lot of Preparation twitter:description: "They're going to need to really beef up their team." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21446e1ee9a97b1c/69892a50929fad6725befe5f/gettyimages-881258254.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Wants to Meet with North Korea. That's Going to Take a Lot of Preparation > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f9d3151f-2a3f-4995-bca4-368a368b7a57&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: South Korea: North Korea's Kim Jong Un and President Trump to Meet 'By May' [Watch (HLS stream): South Korea: North Korea's Kim Jong Un and President Trump to Meet 'By May'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yxFQwuDH.m3u8) (2:14)  _Published 2018-03-09. South Korea’s national security director says President Donald Trump has decided he will meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un “by May.”_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 9, 2018 9:59 PM UTC South Korea’s national security director says President Donald Trump has decided he will meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un “by May.”  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 9, 2018 9:59 PM UTC President Donald Trump announced that he would [have a historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un](http://time.com/5192570/donald-trump-kim-jong-un-talks-progress/) in a typically unplanned way. The president popped his head into the White House briefing room Thursday evening to tell reporters a “major announcement” was coming in just two hours, one that turned out to reverse a position staked out by his own Secretary of State just one day earlier. But experts say if he is actually going to meet with Kim — still not a certainty — it will take a lot more planning and forethought than that. In past administrations, experts say it would take extensive preparation and negotiations with multiple agencies to prepare for a meeting like this. Generally, at least the National Security Council, the State Department, the Department of Defense and the intelligence community would all play a role in coming up with a negotiating strategy. All of this would be so that “when the two principals met, there was some kind of understanding of what they were going to talk about, what potential agreement they would reach, and a lot of it would be relatively well scripted,” says Jay Lefkowitz, who served as President George W. Bush’s Special Envoy on Human Rights in North Korea. But Trump has made clear that he wants to lead this process himself — “President Trump made his reputation on making deals,” a senior official said Thursday of why he wants to meet face-to-face with Kim. And even when he has one, Trump rarely sticks to the script. “He may not actually have a foreign policy apparatus around him that he either trusts or has confidence in,” says Lefkowitz. And “he obviously has supreme confidence, whether it’s misguided or not, in his own negotiating skills.” The timeline would be short to do all this planning. Republic of Korea National Security Advisor Chung Eui-Yong said last night that the two would meet “by May.” And a senior Administration official said it would happen in “a couple of months” but the “exact timing and place is still to be determined.” The Trump Administration is considering appointing an outside expert to work as an envoy to North Korea, [CNN reports](https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/07/politics/us-north-korea-outside-expert/index.html). But for now, [according to Axios](https://www.axios.com/report-trump-administration-wants-a-special-envoy-for-north-korea-1520465564-8c1ecd48-cd1e-4f01-b088-4efab3373145.html), the State Department’s Special Representative for North Korea is retiring, there’s no permanent ambassador to Seoul and the assistant secretary for East Asia hasn’t yet been confirmed. In the West Wing, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster is rumored to be [on his way out](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/white-house-preparing-mcmaster-exit-early-next-month-n852371). “They’re going to need to really beef up their team,” says Joel Wit, Senior Fellow at US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. As the Trump Administration hammers down its own position and goals for the meeting, traditionally officials below the President would also be reaching out to officials in North Korea and other countries with a stake in the outcome in advance of the summit. South Korea helped broker the meeting and according to the White House, Trump spoke to both Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday about North Korean strategy and the upcoming talk. Arranging a summit with North Korea marks a particular challenge, because the U.S. doesn’t have formal diplomatic relations with the hermit kingdom. “We’re going to have to start talking to them. That’s the point,” says Wit. “They have to have a process of communication and face-to-face communication, and given the short time frame involved, it’s going to have to be pretty intense.” One immediate question for the U.S. and North Korea to settle: where the summit will be held. Experts have predicted a neutral country, South Korea, [the Demilitarized Zone](http://time.com/5140128/dmz-north-south-korea/), or even North Korea, if Kim refuses to leave his country. But even if the U.S. opens channels of communication with North Korean officials, it’s not clear that anyone besides Kim himself is really empowered to represent the country. “How can you actually have the kind of traditional diplomatic outreach when no one really below him has any real authority in that system?” asks Lefkowitz. In a different way, Trump himself has few officials who can speak for him, due to his propensity to change his mind and rely on his own thinking above the advice of experts. One day before Trump agreed to meet with Kim, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had said conditions weren’t right to meet with North Korea. The change was “a decision the President took himself,” Tillerson explained, [according to CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/09/politics/trump-kim-jong-un-north-korea-tillerson-intl/index.html). “In a way,” says Lefkowitz, “we have two leaders right now who are much more wrapped up in their own worlds than I think you traditionally have when you’re dealing with diplomacy.” Which is why Trump hopes sitting down together could be the first step towards a new relationship between the two countries. ## Transcript Today, I had the privilege of briefing President Trump on my recent visit to Pyongyang, North Korea. I'd like to thank President Trump, the Vice President, and his wonderful national security team including my close friend General McMaster. I explained to President Trump That his leadership and his maximum pressure policy together with international solidarity brought us to this juncture. I expressed President Moon Jae- in's personal gratitude for President Trump's leadership. I told President Trump that now meeting. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he is committed to denuclearization. Kim pledged that North Korea will refrain from any further nuclear or missiles tests. He understands that the routine joint military exercises Between the Republic of Korea and the United States must continue. And he expressed his eagerness to meet President Trump as soon as possible. President Trump appreciated the briefing and said he would meet Kim Jong Un. By May to achieve permanent denuclearization. The republic of Korea along with the United States, Japan and our many partners around the world, remain fully and resolutely committed to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Along with President Trump, we are optimistic about continuing a diplomatic process to test for possibility of a peaceful resolution. The Republic of Korea, the United States and our partners Stand together in insisting that we not repeat the mistakes of the past, and that the pressure will continue until North Korea matches its words with concrete actions, thank you. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5193580/donald-trump-meeting-north-korea-announcement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5193580/donald-trump-meeting-north-korea-announcement/"},"headline":"President Trump Wants to Meet with North Korea. 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