UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi endorses Trump’s plan to meet Kim Jong Un
President Donald Trump’s detractors emphasise that Kim should not be granted the privilege of a leader-level meeting. Photograph: (AFP)
IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi, one of the world’s most respected arms control experts, backed the case for a dialogue between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying the latter’s reputation as a human rights abuser and autocrat shouldn’t preclude engagement.
The UN nuclear watchdog’s chief has thrown his weight behind a potential meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying, “It’s very important that they meet.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Mariano Grossi, one of the world’s most respected arms control experts, endorsed the proposed meeting after Trump remarked last week that he plans to meet the North Korean leader later this year despite opposition and criticism from detractors who emphasise that Kim should not be granted the privilege of a leader-level meeting.
‘Leaders need to see each other,’ says Grossi
“Leaders need to see each other,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the IAEA, told The Washington Post in an interview.
“The fact that I get along with him—that's a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump told reporters last week. “He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons.”
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Grossi, one of the world’s most respected arms control experts, backed the case for a dialogue, saying Kim’s reputation as a human rights abuser and autocrat shouldn’t preclude engagement.
Grossi cited Trump’s effort to broker agreements between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as an example.
‘Shaking hands is what diplomacy is for’
“People say, ‘How can you be shaking hands with this?’ Shaking hands is what diplomacy is for,” Grossi said. “And then, after the handshake, there is hopefully a conversation, and in that conversation, which should be cordial and respectful, you are trying to get something done.”
Grossi is also eyeing becoming the next secretary general of the United Nations in a highly competitive selection process that gives veto power to permanent members of the UN Security Council, including the United States.
The second term of the ninth UN Secretary-General António Guterres is coming to an end on 31 December 2026.
Grossi considered to be frontrunner for UN top post
Grossi was nominated by Argentina on 26 November 2025. The 65-year-old career diplomat from Argentina has been a high-profile director general of the UN nuclear watchdog for the last six years.
While the IAEA has long policed Iran’s nuclear programme, Grossi led negotiations aimed at salvaging parts of a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers after US President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of it in 2018.
Grossi’s one notable success was getting an IAEA team stationed at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
Many diplomats consider him to be the frontrunner after his years spent trying to keep onside the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, whose backing is crucial for the top job. However, Russia has expressed reservations about his campaign. Eight candidates have been nominated so far.
Grossi made his pitch for the job, saying, “I’m the only one in the race that is dealing with real peace and security issues and has been working with all the major players and other countries on this.”
