Even if U.S. President Donald Trump holds a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this year, as he recently suggested, it would not work in the Republican Party's favor in November's midterm elections, according to a Korean-American advocacy leader.
Kim Dong-seok, head of the Korean American Grassroots Conference, made the assessment at a forum hosted by the Kwanhun Club on the 26th at the Press Center in Seoul's Jung District, held under the theme "The 2026 U.S. Midterm Elections and the Korean Peninsula." Kim put the odds of a North Korea-U.S. summit taking place at "50-50." The group, which Kim founded in 2013, serves as a bridge conveying Korean-American community issues to about 200 U.S. federal lawmakers and congressional staff.
Kim said Trump's recent signals of willingness to hold a summit may reflect an attempt to shift the domestic political narrative and divert public attention. He also raised the possibility that business motives are at play. Prefacing the remarks as his own speculation, Kim pointed to the expansion of Trump family businesses in the Middle East and elsewhere, arguing that "President Trump may be trying to link his own businesses with the leaders of authoritarian states in order to sustain his 'business empire.'" Noting that Trump had previously raised the prospect of developing North Korea with Kim Jong-un, he said, "North Korea-U.S. relations also need to be viewed through the lens of Trump-style business thinking."
Turning to the recent momentum toward North Korea-U.S. dialogue, Kim said traditional U.S. foreign policy and security experts harbor deep concerns about North Korea's nuclear program and the erosion of deterrence against Pyongyang and Beijing. "In Washington, North Korea means nuclear weapons," he said. "The established foreign policy and security experts in Washington's inner circle speak with one voice about their concern and fear over the North's nuclear program, and some also worry that deterrence against North Korea and China could be undermined." He added: "Given that President Trump is now trying to strike a deal with North Korea, the U.S. position on the North Korean nuclear issue may finally be settled this time around. That could be when a period arrives in which U.S. policy toward Northeast Asia shifts in a fundamental way."
On the November midterms, Kim projected that the Democratic Party could retake a House majority. As for the Senate, he said, "The Democrats have momentum, but I think it will be hard for them to win," predicting that Republicans would hold on to their majority.
