Seoul's spy agency sees possible signs of US-North Korea dialogue, says summit possible 'at any time'

Intelligence assessment points to possible US-North Korea summit

South Korea's spy agency said Tuesday that a summit between the United States and North Korea could take place at any time, citing possible signs of dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington, according to lawmakers briefed by the agency.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) made the assessment during a closed-door briefing to the National Assembly's intelligence committee, according to Rep. Youn Kun-young of the ruling Democratic Party and Rep. Yoo Yeong-ha of the main opposition People Power Party.

"Regarding a North S. summit, we should consider it possible at any time," the NIS was quoted as saying. "No concrete facts of dialogue between North Korea and the S. have been confirmed, but there are signs of dialogue."

Lawmaker Youn Kun-young told reporters after the briefing that there had been no confirmation of specific contacts between Pyongyang and Washington, but that there was an assessment that talks could be possible at any time.

The assessment comes as S. President Donald Trump has said he plans to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year. Trump said last month he intended to meet Kim again, and he had previously ordered a major scaling back of annual military exercises between the United States and South Korea.

Trump and Kim met three times in 2018 and 2019, but those meetings did not yield tangible progress on denuclearisation, according to analysts cited in reports.

North Korea's muted response

Pyongyang has not offered any direct response to Trump's overtures, while renewing its criticism of what it claims is the S.' hostile policy toward the North, according to the NIS briefing as relayed by lawmakers.

The public response from Pyongyang has been mostly muted, and analysts were skeptical of imminent talks, as reported by The Japan Times and Malay Mail.

In August, Trump said it was important to "get along" with Kim, adding that Pyongyang had 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons. North Korea subsequently said Kim had "good memories and feelings" about Trump and that the relationship between the two leaders remains "excellent," but did not clearly respond to the S. president's overtures, according to Malay Mail.

Around the same time, North Korea fired more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area, and Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, described Trump's decision to scale back the drills with South Korea as Seoul's "comeuppance," as reported by Malay Mail.

Separate maritime exercises set to begin September 7 between the United States and allies South Korea and Japan have also drawn an angry response from Pyongyang, according to the same report.

Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies, said Moscow-backed Pyongyang has little incentive for S. talks, as quoted by Malay Mail. Trump's October 2025 comment about being "100 per cent" open to meeting Kim has gone unanswered, the report also noted.

Succession and other intelligence details

The NIS also said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's daughter, Ju-ae, appears to be in the stage of being designated as his successor, citing her frequent media exposure, according to the lawmakers.

"The reason why she is showing up in the state media frequently is she is seen as being in the process of being appointed as successor," Youn said, as reported by The Straits Times.

The agency was quoted as saying: "We believe it may be intended to establish her image to the North Korean people as their leader." Ju-ae has accompanied Kim at major events, including the 73rd anniversary of the Korean War armistice, according to reports.

The NIS assessed there was a "very low possibility" currently that Pyongyang would deploy additional troops to Ukraine, Youn said, as reported by The Straits Times. Kim Yo Jong has denied Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's claim that Pyongyang planned to send up to 50,000 more troops to Russia to fight for its ally.

The NIS had also obtained a blueprint of a North Korean missile as well as an internal document on Pyongyang's ruling party, Yoo Yeong-ha, another lawmaker briefed by the NIS, told reporters without elaborating, according to The Straits Times.

On President Lee Jae Myung's recent proposal calling on the two Koreas to begin talks on formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War, the NIS said the agency itself has not made any contact with the North, according to Youn. The divided Koreas have technically remained at war since the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, as noted by Yonhap.

The NIS has also launched an internal inspection into former President Yoon Suk Yeol's 2024 martial law declaration, according to Yonhap.