Friends reunited? Trump faces a very different Kim Jong Un this time

The cameras struggled to get a steady shot as Donald Trump took his first historic steps into enemy territory with Kim Jong Un. It was 2019 and the then-45th president of the United States patted the arm of the North Korean leader, then on cue, Kim led him across the threshold that separates his country from South Korea - two countries officially still at war.

Behind them, within the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), it was chaos as TV crews jostled to get a clear view through a line of North Korean bodyguards who seemed surprised by the onslaught of US media.

At one point, a reporter asked for help and the White House press secretary had to pull them from behind a line of security to the Trump-Kim photo call.

This meeting had been hastily organised – and it showed.

"I never expected to meet you at this place," said Kim to Trump.

The US president had organised the last-minute rendezvous on Twitter, as it was then known, just 30 hours earlier when he suggested meeting Chairman Kim at the DMZ "just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!"

The impromptu invitation created a third and last incredible TV moment between a showman president and a once reclusive dictator.

Now, it appears there could be more. Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview broadcast last Thursday that he will once again "reach out" to Kim.

"I got along with him," Trump added. "He is not a religious zealot. He happens to be a smart guy."

The BBC understands that there has been very little between the US and North Korea in the last four years during the Biden istration. Washington has sent messages but there has been no reply from Pyongyang.

The last meeting between the two nations, when Trump was last in office, did not advance a longed-for deal to get North Korea to give up its prized possession – its nuclear weapons.

Since then, Kim has advanced his missile programme and claims to have successfully tested a hypersonic missile, despite being subject to strict international sanctions.

It's a far cry from when Trump used to boast that the two "fell in love".

The question is, can the relationship be rekindled - or could it be a very different picture this time around?

Washington will, after all, be dealing with a very different Kim now. In the last four years his alliances and fortunes have shifted - and his relationship with another world leader appears to have strengthened too. So, could it mean that this has all changed his dynamic with Trump for good?

"It's definitely a possibility," says Jenny Town, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center and the director of Stimson's Korea Program.

"You can tell by Donald Trump's decision to appoint a special envoy for sensitive issues that include North Korea, I think it gives you an indication of kind of where his thinking is on that right now."

Trump has brought back some of those who helped set up his summits with Kim, including the former ambassador to , Richard Grenell who has been picked as his presidential envoy for special missions on "some of the hottest spots" around the world, including North Korea.

But there have been changes in the intervening years.

"North Korea will spend the first year trying to prove to Trump that Kim Jong Un isn't who he was in 2017 - that he's militarily stronger, that he's politically stronger, and that, if they ever get back to that point, it's going to be a very different negotiation," argues Ms Town.

Kim is also embracing a new friend – Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

He has helped North Korea with food and fuel in return for weapons and soldiers for his war effort in Ukraine. Pyongyang is no longer as desperate for relief from US sanctions.

Rachel Minyoung Lee, who worked as a senior North Korean media analyst for the U.S. government told the BBC that Pyongyang has "primed" its people by informing them in state media about Donald Trump's return.

But she believes the "bar for entering talks will now be higher than before."

"Two things will have to happen," she added. "North Korea is desperate enough to return to the negotiating table, for example due to a crumbling economy or a significant cooling off in its relations with Russia; or the United States makes an offer to North Korea that is drastically different from what it did in the past."

Trump sparked speculation that he is willing to restart talks with Kim during a recent g ceremony in the Oval Office, when he said: "I was very friendly with him. He liked me. I liked him. We got along very well."

But the Trump istration should be realistic this time around, says Sydney Seiler who until last year was the national intelligence officer for North Korea on the U.S. National Intelligence Council.

"The arms control thing is a red herring. There is no arms control to be had with North Korea. We've tried arms control," he said.

"Maybe North Korea will sit and talk, and maybe they'll refrain from long range missile launches, and they'll not conduct a seventh nuclear test, and the issue will be largely manageable. That's the best-case scenario.

"The worst-case scenario is that even if you talk, they'll continue to launch, they'll continue to test. So, Donald Trump would have to consider: what is the value of engaging North Korea"Getty Images Mike Pence and Kim Jong Un's sister Kim Yo-Jong (back left) watch on during the Opening Ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/>Getty Images