Bruce Klingner has the same opinion I have that Kim Jong-un right now doesn’t really need anything from the U.S. to warrant a summit. Right now all their needs are being met due to their growing relationship with Russia. Why would Kim chum up to Trump now and possibly upset Putin? Trump would have to offer a deal Kim can’t refuse in order to secure a summit. I think at best what happens is that at the regional forum in China in November the two get pictured greeting each other and shaking hands:

A prominent expert said Tuesday that he sees a “slim-to-none” chance of another meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, noting that the resumption of their summitry depends on how low the United States sets the bar or how willing Trump is to make concessions.

Bruce Klingner, senior fellow at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, made the remarks during a forum in Washington, amid speculation that Trump could seek a summit with Kim during his next trip to Asia, likely to attend a regional forum in Shenzhen, China in November.

“I think overall, the chance of a meeting is sort of slim to none, and slim just rode out of town,” he said during the forum hosted by the Korea Economic Institute of America.

“But it could still happen. It depends on sort of how low the U.S. sets the bar or how willing Trump is to offer concessions,” he added. (……..)

The expert pointed out that Pyongyang does not feel the need to engage with the U.S. for assistance given its deepening cooperation with Russia and improved ties with China.

“North Korea right now feels (it is) in the strongest position it’s been for quite some time. It’s getting 14 to 20 billion or more, or billions of dollars in food, fuel, funding, and military technology from Russia. Its trade with China has largely resumed to pre-COVID levels,” he said.

“It’s getting about a billion dollars a year from cryptocurrency crime, so it doesn’t need the U.S. and sanctions relief as it did several years ago.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The inevitable slide in popularity has finally hit President Lee. It seems like every Korean President enjoys initial high popularity and then eventually hits a sharp fall when they can’t deliver on all the promises they made during the campaign:

President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating fell 2.8 percentage points to 40.2 percent, the lowest since he took office, marking the sixth consecutive week of decline, a Realmeter poll showed Monday.

The poll, conducted Aug. 18-21 among 2,026 adults, found 56.9 percent disapproved of Lee’s performance, up 2.8 percentage points from the previous week.

Realmeter attributed the decline to growing distrust over the government’s housing policies, political clashes over judicial and constitutional issues, and security concerns following the scaling back of South Korea-US joint military exercises. The pollster said support among conservatives and those aged 70 and older had weakened.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea also saw its support fall 6 percentage points to 41.9 percent, while the opposition People Power Party rose 4.5 points to 37.6 percent, according to a separate survey of 1,009 adults conducted Aug. 20-21.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but I had Grok create a chart that shows the Presidential approval rating at the beginning of their term and what they finished with. As that chart shows each President say deep declines in their approval rating. Moon Jae-in does stand out as being the most popular President and also the only one not bogged down with scandals:

It will see if the premature closing of the missing person cases was nefarious or just laziness on the investigator:

 A police officer suspected of closing a missing person case without confirming the woman’s safety has been placed under emergency arrest, police said Sunday.

The officer was detained without a warrant the previous day on suspicion of dereliction of duty, falsifying official electronic records, and obstruction of official duties through deceptive means, according to the Jeju Provincial Police Agency.

The emergency arrest was made after the officer was found to have closed another missing person case prematurely, revealed through the discovery of the man’s body on Saturday.

The missing woman, 37-year-old Jang Mi-ran, has yet to be found, more than three months after she was initially reported missing by her family.

In both cases, the police officer is suspected of arbitrarily closing them after telling the families that the missing people were safe.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Everyone complaining about this influencer gave him the attention he was seeking:

Japanese influencer Gamix (left) and K-pop band Ateez member San (Gamix’s Instagram account)

A Japanese influencer with more than 2 million followers on Instagram has come under fire online for making a racist eye gesture mocking Ateez member San’s performance at Seoul World Cup Stadium.

Local media reported Friday that the influencer, who goes by the name Gamix, uploaded a video Thursday recreating the K-pop singer’s dance performance to the song “Bad.”

In the video, Gamix wore a shirt made to look like the Atletico Madrid jersey that San wore during a ceremonial kickoff before a match at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Aug. 9. A photo of San wearing the shirt was displayed at the bottom of the video.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.