Trump says Kim Jong-un has responded to his overtures when asked about scaling back US drills with South Korea – as it happened

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
Cite

Nowell, C., Campbell, L., Chidi, G., & Ambrose, T. (2026, August 18). Trump says Kim Jong-un has responded to his overtures when asked about scaling back US drills with South Korea – as it happened. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/aug/17/politics-trump-south-korea-military-pentagon-republicans-democrats

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-08-18 · by Cecilia Nowell, Lucy Campbell, George Chidi, Tom Ambrose

Quick Summary

Donald Trump claims that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has responded to his overtures, but provides no details. Trump made this statement after being asked why Kim had not replied to his earlier attempts at communication. This exchange occurred during a press briefing in the Oval Office, where Trump also stated that his relationship with Kim is "very positive" despite offering little additional information.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-08-18, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Here's a summary of the news story:

Written for “US North Korea Relations” on 2026-10-16, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 US North Korea Relations
Politics · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads centre and hedges 8% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Al Jazeera
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 2 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles report on the same conversation in the Oval Office between Trump and a reporter from CNN on August 18, 2026, where Trump is asked about scaling back US drills with South Korea.”
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left further left than this 🔴 25% hedged 6 of 24 📰 publisher trust 67
“Article A reports on a specific statement by Trump about Kim Jong-un responding to his overtures, while Article B discusses the larger context of South Korea's president Lee Jae Myung's approach to North Korea and Trump's decision to cut joint drills”
The Independent
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 17% hedged 4 of 24 📰 publisher trust 59
“Article A describes Trump's response to a question about Kim Jong-un responding to his overtures, while Article B reports on the South Korean military cutting short joint drills at Washington's request”
Deutsche Welle
⚖️ Leans right further right than this 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 12 📰 publisher trust 95
“Article A reports on Trump's statement about Kim Jong-un responding to his overtures, while Article B reports on North Korea firing short-range ballistic missiles towards the sea hours later”
Fox News
⚖️ Leans right further right than this 🔴 10% hedged 2 of 21 📰 publisher trust 67
“Article A reports on Trump's claim that Kim Jong-un has responded to his overtures, while Article B reports on a new revelation about North Korea's nuclear weapons and a possible meeting with Trump”
The Guardian
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 12% hedged 2 of 17 📰 publisher trust 67
“Article A describes a conversation between Trump and reporters about Kim Jong-un's response, while Article B reports on North Korea firing missiles in an apparent reaction to Trump's order”
NPR
⚖️ Leans left further left than this 🔴 17% hedged 7 of 41 📰 publisher trust 60
“Article A describes a conversation between Trump and Kim in which Trump claims Kim has responded positively to his overtures, while Article B reports that North Korea rebuffed Trump's attempt to reengage with Pyongyang and instead launched ballistic missiles”
CBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 33% hedged 1 of 3 📰 publisher trust 60
“Although both articles mention Trump scaling back US drills with South Korea and mentioning Kim Jong-un's response, article A reports on Trump's statement about Kim's response in real-time, while article B appears to be a summary or analysis of the situation the day after”
Euronews
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 16 📰 publisher trust 60
“Article B mentions a different aspect of the situation, specifically North Korea's response to joint military drills, which is not mentioned in Article A.”
CBS News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 10% hedged 2 of 21 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles describe a launch of missiles by North Korea, but only one mentions the response from Kim Jong-un to Trump's overtures, which is described in Article A”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
99
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
8%
8 of 99 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Centre
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
68/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-08-18 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Guardian · 1363 article(s) · 4 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 4 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Cecilia Nowell
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Topics

CNN California Iran Oman The White House

Subjects

Trump PERSON · 14× Donald Trump PERSON · 4× Kim PERSON · 4× Kim Jong-un PERSON · 4× CNN ORG · 2× California GPE · 2× Iran GPE · 2× North Korean NORP · 2× Oman GPE · 2× The White House ORG · 2×

Narrative

Trump says Kim Jong-un has responded to his overtures but doesn't offer details Donald Trump has said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has responded to his overtures after he ordered the US to scale back military exercises with South Korea. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump was asked why Kim had not responded to his overtures.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-08-18
🔮 In March, the president signed an executive order restricting the use of mail-in ballots ahead of the November midterm elections that will decide control of US Congress.

Claims (99 extracted, 8 hedged)

Trump says Kim Jong-un has responded to his overtures but doesn't offer details Donald Trump has said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has responded to his overtures after he ordered the US to scale back military exercises with South Korea. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump was asked why Kim had not responded to his overtures. asserted
Kim → say → overtures
Trump shot back at the reporter: “How do you know he hasn’t responded?” asserted
he → shoot → reporter
The reporter then asked again if he had. asserted
he → ask → ?
“Um, yeah he has,” Trump said. asserted
Trump → say → ?
Asked what stage the conversations with Kim were at, Trump said “it’s very positive”, but provided no further detail. asserted
it → ask → detail
He added: Kim Jong-un has always treated me with great respect and we met on numerous occasions, actually two primary occasions, spoken and spent time. asserted
we → add → time
I understand him. asserted
I → understand → him
He understands me. asserted
He → understand → me
Their relationship was a dominant theme during Trump’s first term, including a series of meetings between them, but has received less emphasis in his second term. asserted
relationship → include → term
Our live coverage is ending now. asserted
coverage → end → ?
In the meantime, you can find all of our live US politics coverage here. asserted
you → find → coverage
Donald Trump voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary, Politico reports, citing Palm Beach County voting records. asserted
Politico → vote → records
The White House has confirmed the president’s mail-in vote, according to the New York Times, which added that this is at least the third time the president has mailed his ballot. uncertain
president → confirm → ballot
In March, the president signed an executive order restricting the use of mail-in ballots ahead of the November midterm elections that will decide control of US Congress. asserted
that → sign → Congress
Trump has repeatedly criticized mail-in voting, calling for restrictions on the policy for years and falsely claiming that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud. asserted
defeat → criticize → fraud
A federal judge has blocked the US Postal Service from implementing part of the executive order, although Trump’s administration has asked the supreme court to intervene. asserted
administration → block → court
A northern California county plans to hire Tina Peters, the prominent Colorado election denier recently released from prison, to work on elections. asserted
county → plan → elections
Shasta county, a conservative region home to 182,000 people, has emerged as a center of the US election denialism movement in recent years. asserted
county → emerge → years
California governor Gavin Newsom’s office said the state is investigating Peters’ hiring. asserted
state → say → hiring
CNN has shared a statement saying it stands behind reporter Kristen Holmes after Donald Trump repeatedly told the CNN reporter to “be quiet” and accused her of being “a fake reporter” during questioning over conditions onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. asserted
Trump → share → Lincoln
Shortly after the president reprimanded Holmes, the White House invoked her children in a social media post further attacking the reporter. asserted
House → reprimand → reporter
Donald Trump again threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of his effort to end the US-Israel war on Iran, as the two-month window to negotiate peace with Iran expired on Monday with no end to the conflict in sight. asserted
window → threaten → sight
“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them,” Trump told Fox News, the second time he has directed such a threat at Muscat, a longtime US strategic partner that has traditionally served as a key backchannel between Washington and Tehran. asserted
that → get → Washington
Trumpsaid that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had responded to his overtures after he ordered the US to scale back military exercises withSouth Korea. asserted
he → respond → Korea
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump was asked why Kim had not responded to his overtures. asserted
Kim → speak → overtures
Trump shot back at the reporter: “How do you know he hasn’t responded?” asserted
he → shoot → reporter
The reporter then asked again if he had. asserted
he → ask → ?
“Um, yeah he has,” Trump said. asserted
Trump → say → ?
Asked what stage the conversations with Kim were at, Trump said “it’s very positive”, but provided no further detail. asserted
it → ask → detail
Trump also claimed he had third-hand reports that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is “beautifully maintained” despite extensive accounts of deteriorating living conditions during its lengthy deployment in the strait of Hormuz. asserted
carrier → claim → Hormuz
“The Lincoln has been out there for a period of time – a good period of time – but over the years, we’ve had them out there much longer,” Trump said, describing an exchange with a veteran, whom he did not name, over the weekend. asserted
he → have → weekend
It has been more than 250 days since the Lincoln has touched land, and reports have described shortages of supplies and water and plumbing problems. asserted
reports → touch → supplies
Several sailors have attempted to leap from the ship according to their reports, prompting Democratic lawmakers to demand answers from the Pentagon. uncertain
sailors → attempt → Pentagon
In Israel, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met Benjamin Netanyahu for more than four hours after the Israeli prime minister rejected a US-backed peace plan for the Gaza war that included a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the devastated territory. asserted
that → meet → territory
Netanyahu has said he rejected any withdrawal that would take place before Hamas fully disarms. asserted
Hamas → say → place
Kushner was said to have told Netanyahu not to create obstacles to a peace deal, US officials told media outlets. asserted
officials → say → outlets
He also told Fox News that progress in getting Hamas to give up its weapons and move forward with a Gaza peace plan could materialize in about a month. uncertain
Hamas → tell → month
Elsewhere, the US supreme court rejected for a second time Trump’s attempt to overturn a jury verdict in 2023 that found him liable for sexually abusing writer E Jean Carroll, and later defaming her. asserted
him → reject → her
The court announced the decision in an unsigned order, without providing an explanation. asserted
court → announce → explanation
The decision leaves intact the $5m civil judgment against Trump, that was returned by the jury after the two-week trial in 2023. asserted
that → leave → 2023
…and 59 more, not listed.
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