"I want to meet Kim Jong-un" as he embarks on his tour..."Acknowledging reality" could be seen as an acceptance of North Korea's demands.

The US may be communicating its intention to talk behind closed doors; North Korea's response is drawing attention.

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Hyo-jeong = As U.S. President Donald Trump directly mentioned that he would like to meet North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un during his visit to South Korea to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, attention is focused on whether North Korea will respond.

According to AFP and Reuters, when asked by reporters at the White House on the 24th (local time) about the possibility of meeting with Chairman Kim before departing for his Asian tour, President Trump said,"I would like to do that. He (Chairman Kim) knows we are going there."

President Trump has already expressed his desire to meet Chairman Kim since his re-election, but this remark, made at the start of his Asian tour, is drawing attention as it can be seen as a more direct 'gesture for dialogue.'

In particular, President Trump went beyond expressing his willingness to meet and made remarks that seemed to partially accept North Korea's terms for dialogue by acknowledging its advanced nuclear capabilities.

"I think they (North Korea) are a kind of 'nuclear power,'" Trump said during a press conference on Air Force One."If they say they should be recognized as a nuclear power, well, they have a lot of nuclear weapons. I'll say that."

Of course, there's a difference between acknowledging the objective reality that North Korea possesses nuclear weapons and recognizing them as legitimate nuclear-weapon states (currently the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and France) under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). President Trump has already referred to North Korea as a"nuclear power."

However, given the context, the remarks on that day could be interpreted as a partial acceptance of North Korea's demand for dialogue based on"acknowledging the reality" (Chairman Kim Jong-un's remarks at the Supreme People's Assembly last month) of their changed strategic status as a nuclear power.

In particular, there is the possibility that the U.S. government has already conveyed its willingness to engage in dialogue to North Korea, not only through public messages but also through behind-the-scenes channels. While no specific details of behind-the-scenes contact have been revealed, President Trump stated that day,"We have informed (Chairman Kim's side)."

The key is how North Korea, which has received the 'ball', will react.

Despite recent reports of US authorities preparing for the possibility of North Korea-US talks during the APEC summit, North Korea has been observing the situation without offering a clear response to the US.

However, there was also an attempt to control the level of the message, such as by refraining from direct criticism of the United States.

North Korea did not directly threaten the United States during the military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party on the 10th, nor after the launch of a short-range ballistic missile on the 22nd that it claimed was a"hypersonic glide vehicle."

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young met with reporters the previous day and said,"I believe Chairman Kim Jong-un has been managing his messages very well since his September 21st speech at the Supreme People's Assembly," adding,"He is paying a lot of attention to the United States." Minister Chung also highlighted North Korea's recent efforts to beautify facilities at Panmunjom.

Considering this situation, it is possible to interpret that North Korea is also weighing its pros and cons without ruling out the possibility of dialogue.

Analysts say that the key to future success is whether the United States not only reiterates its existing position of being open to dialogue but also presents a message through private channels that North Korea can actually find appealing regarding the agenda.

North Korea's current status and surrounding environment, where its possession of nuclear weapons is"irreversibly" confirmed by China and Russia as its strong backers, are completely different from those of the first and second North Korea-US summits in 2018 and 2019.

In this regard, absent concrete incentive messages, such as new proposals from the United States, North Korea may continue to follow Russia and China's lead for the time being rather than engage in dialogue with the United States.

On the 23rd, Chairman Kim Jong-un attended the groundbreaking ceremony for a memorial hall honoring the sacrifices of Russian soldiers dispatched to North Korea, and said that North Korea-Russia relations are"the direction of the times that must never be reversed."

Professor Im Eul-chul of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University said,"The possibility of dialogue will depend on the content of the message Trump sent to the North," adding,"If it includes content such as the intention to take North Korea's position into consideration and discuss more seriously what Chairman Kim wants, then it could come up for dialogue."

Professor Lim added,"Because North Korea has changed from the past, Chairman Kim will likely see (the meeting with President Trump) as meaningless and meaningless if it is just a 'photo session.'"

Ultimately, the attention of diplomats is expected to be focused on North Korea's 'mouth' until the 29th, when President Trump arrives in South Korea.

Whether North Korea responds to the dialogue or not, it is likely to make a public response through statements by Kim Yo-jong, Vice Director of the Workers' Party of Korea.

The surprise North Korea-US summit at Panmunjom in June 2019 also gained momentum when then-First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Son-hui responded to President Trump's impromptu"Twitter proposal" while he was in Japan for the G20 summit by saying it was a "very interesting proposal."

Afterwards, North America and the United States exchanged opinions through a direct telephone line between the United Nations Command and the North Korean military, and working-level officials from both sides met late at night at the North Korean Unification Pavilion in Panmunjom, completing practical preparations in a 'quick and swift' manner.