President Donald Trump said Wednesday he expects to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year, but Kim's sister Kim Yo Jong disputed his claim that the leaders had recently communicated, highlighting conflicting accounts over renewed diplomacy.

Trump And Kim Offer Conflicting Diplomatic Signals

Asked whether he expected another meeting with Kim in 2026, Trump replied, "Yeah, I will be." He said Monday that Kim responded to his outreach. Trump has repeatedly sought to revive personal diplomacy with Kim after their 2018 and 2019 summits failed to produce a denuclearization agreement.

Kim Yo Jong offered a different account. "There has been no communication between the leaders of North Korea and the U.S. that we are aware of," she said in a statement translated by South Korean outlet The Chosun Daily.

"I am not aware of it at all, and perhaps it may be the only thing I do not know as regards the foreign policy of our supreme leadership," she added, while saying the Trump-Kim relationship "is still excellent."

That relationship remains a possible diplomatic opening. Kim Jong Un said last year he still had "fond memories" of Trump, but insisted Washington abandon its "absurd obsession" with denuclearization before meaningful talks could resume.

Scaled-Back Drills Still Draw Pyongyang Anger

The exchange comes after Trump ordered a substantial reduction in the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, the annual U.S.-South Korea military exercise. The allies shortened the drill from 11 days to five and reduced some field training after Trump ordered the Pentagon to "substantially reduce" U.S. participation. Kim Yo Jong nevertheless called the exercises "an expression of open hostility" and said reducing their size did not change their provocative nature.

Missile Tests Keep Nuclear Risks Elevated

North Korea has long portrayed the drills as invasion rehearsals, while Washington and Seoul call them defensive. The Associated Press reported last week that North Korea's neighbors detected two ballistic missile launches ahead of this year's exercise. Pyongyang has also continued expanding its missile capabilities.

Trump said getting along with Kim "is a good thing, not a bad thing," and claimed North Korea has 57 nuclear weapons. The U.S. publishes no official estimate, while SIPRI estimates Pyongyang may have assembled about 60 warheads.