North Korea said Tuesday that, although the relationship between its leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump “is not bad”, the United States must accept the isolated country as a state of nuclear weapons.
Disienting the idea of new conversations about denuclearization, Kim’s powerful sister said that reality has changed from Trump’s first mandate in office.
“The year 2025 is neither 2018 nor 2019,” said Kim Yo Jong, who believes he speaks for his brother, in a statement carried out by the state agency of North Korea, Kcna.
“The recognition of the irreversible position of the RPDC as a state of nuclear weapons and the hard fact that their abilities and geopolitical environment have changed radically should be a prerequisite to predict and think everything in the future,” he said, using the abbreviation of the formal name of North Korea, the Democratic Popular Republic of Korea.
While Kim acknowledged that the “personal relationship” between Trump and Kim “is not bad,” he said that using it to pursue the denuclearization of North Korea would be considered “mockery.”
“If the United States does not accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK-US meeting will continue to be a” hope “on the US side,” he said in the statement, which did not mention Trump by name.
Trump, who has often talked about his “great relationship” with Kim, met with the North Korean leader in person three times and has expressed his openness to the resumption of diplomacy.
Although Trump and Kim signed an agreement in principle on denuclearization at their Singapore summit in 2018, the conversations broke the following year after the United States refused to grant relief of sanctions of North Korea.
Since then, North Korea has advanced its nuclear and ballistic missile programs through weapons testing and a security association with Russia, changes mentioned by Kim.
The State Department said last month that the Trump administration remained committed to achieving the “complete denuclearization” of North Korea.
The White House did not immediately respond to a comment email during the night. A White House official told Reuters that denuclearization remained the goal.
The office of the new president of South Korea, Lee Jae-Myung, said Tuesday that South Korea supports the idea of renewed North Korea conversations.
South Korea and the United States “will continue to participate in close communication and cooperation in the general policy of North Korea, including the possible resumption of dialogue between the United States and North Korea,” he said in a statement.
Kim’s statement was the second in so many days, after rejected Lee’s efforts, who is considered more open to repair relations with the north than his conservative predecessor.
“It does not matter what policy is adopted and any proposal made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is no reason to fulfill or the issue that will be discussed,” he said in the statement on Monday.
He also criticized the “blind trust” of South Korea in his former American Alliance and the next joint military exercises that North Korea sees as an invasion essay.
South Korea Unification Minister Chung Dong-Young, who is in charge of managing relations with the North, said Monday that he would recommend reducing or suspending the drills of the southern Korea of the United States to promote commitment to Pyongyang.
Kim’s rare twin statements reflect “the intention of North Korea of taking an initiative to lead the conversation on the subject of the Korean Peninsula, either through dialogue or confrontation,” said Yang Moo-Jin, president of the University of North Korea Studies in Seoul, NBC News said in an interview.
The message to South Korea used a relatively moderate language, said Yang, while the message of the United States implied the potential of conversations about the reduction of nuclear weapons instead of denuclearization, which suggests that North Korea is trying to evaluate the response of both countries.
The fact that Kim has recognized the relationship between Trump and his brother “suggests a desire to avoid a greater deterioration of the situation and a possible sign for another summit,” said Yang.
