Kim Jong-un's sister casts doubt on Trump's claims of secret talks with North Korea

Donald Trump has said he plans to meet North Korea's Kim Jong-un later this year, but the North Korean leader's sister, Kim Yo-jong, has cast doubt on whether such secret talks are actually taking place. On Tuesday, Trump implied he and Kim were in direct contact, linking the claim to an announcement that the US would scale back its participation in military exercises with South Korea. Asked whether Kim had responded to his outreach, Trump confirmed that he had.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump has been pressing aides to arrange an in-person meeting with Kim, potentially in November during a trip to Asia for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China.

On Wednesday, Kim Yo-jong said she knew "absolutely nothing" about any such communications. In a statement carried by North Korean state media, she said that while Trump and her brother have an excellent personal relationship, the United States remains an enemy of Pyongyang. She said Washington's hostile policy toward North Korea has not changed, and that the US and its allies continue hostile military activity against the country.

Questioned again by reporters near Marine One on Wednesday, Trump declined to confirm or deny direct contact with Kim, but said he would indeed meet him later this year. He said he knows Kim well and expects things to be fine for him, so long as the US has a "smart president."

Trump also made the unusual disclosure that North Korea possesses 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons, revealing intelligence detail not typically made public, and said Iran should not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.

In her statement, Kim Yo-jong also denied claims by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that North Korea planned to send tens of thousands of troops to fight for Russia.