South Korea has provided a significantly higher estimate of North Korea’s nuclear weapons stockpile than the figure recently cited by US President Donald Trump, highlighting continuing uncertainty over the true size of Pyongyang’s arsenal.
Trump said on Wednesday that North Korea possesses 57 nuclear weapons, while South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said Thursday that Seoul estimates the country has between 80 and 120 nuclear warheads.
The differing assessments came as Trump confirmed his intention to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year.
Asked whether he planned to meet Kim before the end of 2026, Trump replied, “Yes, I will,” during a visit to a new helicopter landing area under construction at the White House.
According to observers, a potential meeting could take place in November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China.
Trump Seeks Renewed Engagement with Kim
Trump has repeatedly highlighted what he describes as a special relationship with Kim, dating back to his first term in office from 2017 to 2021.
The two leaders met three times during that period, marking the first-ever meetings between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.
Their relationship returned to the spotlight recently after Trump made the unexpected decision to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea, arguing that the drills sent an unnecessarily hostile message to Pyongyang.
Trump later described the exercises as “very insulting” to someone who, in his view, had behaved well during his presidency.
The potential resumption of direct diplomacy comes as North Korea remains a major security concern for Washington and its allies. However, the gap between the nuclear estimates offered by Trump and South Korea underscores the difficulty of accurately assessing the scale of Pyongyang’s weapons program.
With a possible Trump-Kim meeting now expected later this year, renewed diplomatic engagement could once again place North Korea’s nuclear arsenal at the center of international attention.
