The assessment was made during a closed-door briefing to lawmakers by the National Intelligence Service (NIS), just a week before Trump is set to take the oath of office in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 20.
"If the U.S. assesses that complete denuclearization of North Korea is not feasible soon, smaller-scale negotiations such as freezing North Korea's nuclear weapons program or seeking partial disarmament may be on the cards," they said quoting the NIS as saying.
"There is a possibility that Trump could engage in talks with Kim, as he has touted his previous photo-ops with Kim as major achievements during his first term," the NIS speculated.
The spy agency based its speculations on Trump's nomination of former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell as his presidential envoy for special missions and his selection of Alex Wong as national security adviser, a move seen as a broader sign of rapprochement with North Korea, as Wong had been a key aide in Trump's initial negotiations with Pyongyang during his first term from 2017 to 2021.
Trump met Kim three times during his first term -- their first summit in Singapore in June 2018, a second summit in Hanoi in February 2019 that ended in failure, and a brief meeting at the border truce village of Panmunjom four months later.
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