57 Nuclear Weapons: Trump Reveals Kim’s Arsenal and Hints at Meeting Him

20th August 2026

2 minutes read

57 Nuclear Weapons: Trump Reveals Kim’s Arsenal and Hints at Meeting Him

U.S. President Donald Trump said that North Korea possesses 57 nuclear weapons, providing a rare and unusually precise assessment of Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.

Trump told reporters at the White House: “He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons. That should never have been allowed to happen. But he has them. And I get along perfectly well with him.”

Trump also indicated that he intends to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The remarks come as Trump has ordered U.S. Department of Defense, or Pentagon, officials to scale back joint military exercises with the South Korean military.

In a social media post on Sunday, Trump wrote that the exercises had sent Pyongyang “a totally inappropriate and hostile message” to a country that “throughout Donald Trump’s presidency has behaved respectfully and poses no threat.”

Relations between Trump and Kim Jong-un cooled after their direct meetings in 2018 and 2019, including a brief exchange in the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas. At the time, Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot on North Korean soil.

Trump told reporters today, during a tour of the helicopter landing pad he ordered to be built in the historic South Lawn of the White House: “I know Kim Jong-un very well, and he’ll be fine as long as we have a smart president.”

Expert estimates of the number of nuclear weapons held by North Korea have varied over the years. In June, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimated that North Korea “may have assembled around 60 nuclear warheads and possesses enough fissile material to produce at least 30 more.”