(ATTN: ADDS more info in paras 3, 7-10)

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this year, while noting that Pyongyang has 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons, marking the first time he has cited a specific figure for the recalcitrant regime's nuclear arsenal.

Trump made the remarks during a press availability at the White House, a day after The Wall Street Journal reported that he is pushing his aides for a meeting with Kim, which it said could happen during his next trip to Asia when the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit takes place in Shenzhen, China, in November.

"Yeah, I will be," Trump told reporters when asked if he is expecting to meet Kim later this year. He did not elaborate on his plan to reengage with Kim.

Asked whether he is exchanging written letters with Kim, Trump said, "I can't tell you that."

Trump's remarks came amid speculation that he might seek to rekindle his personal diplomacy with Kim, which led to three bilateral meetings during his first term: the first in June 2018 in Singapore, the second in Hanoi in February 2019 and the last at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in June 2019.

The speculation has further been reinforced by Trump's recent order to scale back South Korea-U.S. military exercises, a move seen as a conciliatory gesture toward North Korea. Pyongyang has long decried allied drills as rehearsals for war against it.

Observers said that Trump's renewed attention to North Korea might reflect his eagerness to score a major foreign policy coup and burnish his image as a peacemaker as the Iran war has dragged on, keeping energy prices high, particularly ahead of the U.S. midterm elections in November.

Questions linger over whether Kim will respond to Trump's overtures given North Korea's deepening diplomatic, economic and military cooperation with Russia and improved ties with China, both of which have reduced Pyongyang's need for assistance from the United States.

Trump's press meeting came shortly after Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, released a statement, saying that the North has no interest in the reduction of the ongoing Seoul-Washington military exercise, which she called "unworthy of comment."

But she reiterated that the North Korean leader has "good memories and feelings" about Trump personally, and that the leaders' relationship is still "excellent" -- a remark that appears to leave open the door for reengagement with Washington.

During the press availability, Trump reiterated that he gets along with the North Korean leader "very well."

"You know what? The fact that I get along with him ... That's a good thing, not a bad thing," he said.

Trump revealed that Kim has 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons, saying that such a development should have never been allowed to happen.

He earlier called Pyongyang a "nuclear power," but this marked the first time that he mentioned a specific number for the North's nuclear inventory. Experts have said that Pyongyang might have some 60 nuclear weapons with fissile material enough to build dozens more.

"(If) I was president, I wouldn't have allowed it. But he's got them. I get along with him very well," he said.

He added that he knows Kim "very well," and that "he is going to be fine."

"As long as we have a smart president, he is going to be fine," he said. "If we have a dumb president, then he's probably not going to be so fine."

sshluck@yna.co.kr

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