North Korea snubs US offer to resume diplomatic talks: ‘mockery without nuclear recognition'

Mint

29-07-2025

North Korea has stated that the relationship between its leader, Kim Jong Un, and US President Donald Trump remains 'not bad,' but warned Washington against trying to use that to achieve denuclearisation.
In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday, Kim Yo Jong — the sister of leader Kim — said the US should start acknowledging the North's 'radically changed' capabilities and that Pyongyang is open to 'any option' to defend its national interest, Bloomberg reported.
'I do not want to deny the fact that the personal relationship between the head of our state and the present US president is not bad,' she said. But Kim added, 'It is worth taking into account the fact that the year 2025 is neither 2018 nor 2019.'
She dismissed the US intent to resume diplomacy on North Korea's denuclearisation, saying Tuesday the North flatly opposes any attempt to deny its position as a nuclear weapons state.
If it is used for that purpose, "it can be interpreted as nothing but a mockery of the other party," she said, urging the United States to recognise the North as a 'nuclear weapons state'.
During Trump's first term as U.S. President, he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times, but the talks failed to convince Kim to halt progress on his nuclear weapons program. Since then, North Korea has rejected further dialogue with the United States and has aligned itself closely with Russian President Vladimir Putin, backing his war in Ukraine.
Since starting his second term in January, Trump has frequently highlighted his personal relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and voiced interest in reviving nuclear talks.
However, their earlier diplomatic efforts in 2018–2019 fell apart over disagreements concerning U.S.-led sanctions. In the years since, Kim has conducted a series of provocative weapons tests aimed at modernising and expanding North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
'Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state which was established along with the existence of a powerful nuclear deterrent and fixed by the supreme law reflecting the unanimous will of all the DPRK people will be thoroughly rejected,' she said, referring to her country by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
She said she was responding to reported comments by a U.S. official that Trump is still open to talks with Kim Jong Un on the North's complete denuclearisation. She likely was referring to a Saturday article by Yonhap news agency that cited an unidentified White House official as saying that Trump 'remains open to engaging with Leader Kim to achieve a fully denuclearised North Korea.'
'If the U.S. 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,' Kim Yo Jong said, as reported by AP.
Her comments suggested complete denuclearisation won't be up for negotiation. Experts earlier said North Korea would only be interested in talks on a partial surrender of its nuclear capability in return for sanctions relief and other benefits, a tactic that could allow North Korea to retain some of its key nuclear weapons after winning what it wants from the U.S.
The Trump-Kim talks ultimately collapsed after President Trump refused Kim Jong Un's offer to dismantle his main nuclear complex in exchange for broad sanctions relief — a move the U.S. viewed as insufficient for full denuclearisation.
Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state... will be thoroughly rejected.
On Monday, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of Kim Jong Un, dismissed outreach efforts by South Korea's new liberal government, criticising its 'blind trust' in the U.S. alliance and continued hostility toward the North. Her remarks suggest that Pyongyang, now focused on deepening ties with Russia, has little interest in resuming talks with Seoul shortly. Analysts believe she may also be attempting to weaken the alliance between South Korea and the United States, AP reported.
(With inputs from agencies)