N. Korea says US must recognize it as nuclear state to resume talks
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a senior ruling party official, said in a statement carried by state-run media that "the recognition of the irreversible position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state...should be a prerequisite for predicting and thinking everything in the future."
DPRK is the acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name.
While recognizing that the personal relationship between Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump "is not bad," Kim Yo Jong insisted an attempt by Washington to use it to denuclearize North Korea would be interpreted as "a mockery," according to the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
"If the United States fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK-U.S. meeting will remain as a 'hope' of the U.S. side," she said.
At the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit in June 2018 in Singapore, Trump and Kim agreed that Washington would provide security guarantees to Pyongyang in exchange for the "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
But they were unable to bridge the gap between U.S. demands and North Korea's call for sanctions relief at their second summit in Hanoi in February 2019.
After Trump and Kim met in the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas in June that year, the United States and North Korea held a working-level meeting in Stockholm in October 2019 but failed to make progress.
Kim Yo Jong stressed that North Korea's nuclear capabilities and the geopolitical environment have radically changed since the time of the meetings.
North Korea signed a bilateral defense cooperation pact with Russia in June last year that includes a provision committing them to mutual assistance if either nation comes under attack.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Mainichi
4 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Taiwan's Lai reaffirms defense spending hike above 3% of GDP
TAIPEI (Kyodo) -- Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on Tuesday reaffirmed that next year's defense budget is set to exceed 3 percent of gross domestic product, as part of efforts to strengthen the island's self-defense capabilities amid rising tensions with mainland China. Taiwan has allocated about 2.45 percent of its GDP for defense in 2025. Speaking at a regional security forum in Taipei, Lai warned that China's growing military activities in the Taiwan Strait as well as the East and South China seas pose "an unprecedented challenge to the rules-based international order." "As authoritarianism continues to expand, democratic nations must join even closer in solidarity to defend our values," Lai said at the Ketagalan Forum, adding that his government remains committed to maintaining the status quo and ensuring peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Cross-strait tensions have been rising since Lai, whom Beijing condemns as a separatist, assumed the presidency in May last year. The mainland considers the self-ruled island as an inalienable part of China's territory and aims to bring it into its fold, by force if necessary. Lai also vowed to advance Taiwan's economic resilience and security by deepening economic and trade cooperation with other countries, including in the sectors of semiconductors and artificial intelligence. Echoing Lai's call for solidarity, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the forum that he hopes the United States, Britain and all European nations will stand with Taiwan and strengthen economic ties as China ramps up pressure on the island. "No one wants war, and certainly no one wants to see Chinese domination of the first island chain," Johnson said, referring to the strategic chain of islands stretching from Japan through Taiwan to the Philippines. Communist-ruled China and Taiwan have been governed separately since they split in 1949 following a civil war.
7 hours ago
Japan Parliament Ends 5-Day Extra Session
News from Japan Politics Aug 5, 2025 19:31 (JST) Tokyo, Aug. 5 (Jiji Press)--The Diet, Japan's parliament, ended a five-day extraordinary session on Tuesday. The main objective of the parliamentary session was to appoint the president and vice president of the House of Councillors following last month's election for the upper chamber of the Diet. The budget committees of both parliamentary chambers hosted intensive deliberations on a Japan-U.S. tariff deal. The full-scale verbal battle between the ruling and opposition parties, however, was put off until the next extraordinary parliamentary session, expected to be held in autumn. Despite the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito not holding the majority in either of the Diet chambers, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan decided to forgo submitting a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's cabinet. Ishiba, who heads the LDP, took part in the intensive deliberations held at the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, on Monday and at the Upper House on Tuesday. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
7 hours ago
Japan PM Ishiba Hints at Possible Supplementary Budget
News from Japan Politics Aug 5, 2025 18:33 (JST) Tokyo, Aug. 5 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Tuesday indicated the possibility of the government compiling a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year to finance steps for dealing with tariff measures of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. During intensive deliberations on the recently reached Japan-U.S. tariff deal at a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of Japanese parliament, Ishiba also said that he will consider publishing a "fact sheet" detailing the bilateral agreement to allay public concerns. Responding to a call for the compilation of a fiscal 2025 supplementary budget from Kyoko Murata of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Ishiba said that the government "needs to appropriately deal with the matter, including in terms of the timing and size, based on discussions by political parties." Toshiharu Furukawa, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's policy chief in the Upper House, called on the government to support industries through a supplementary budget. The prime minister replied that he wants to provide "very detailed support so that businesses don't face financing difficulties." [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
