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New York Times
13 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Times
North Korea Says Kim's Relations With Trump ‘Not Bad,' but Stands Firm on Nukes
Since returning to the White House, President Trump has expressed interest in re-engaging with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, saying the two men had forged a friendship when they met several times during his first term. His offer met with a stony silence until Tuesday, when North Korean state media quoted Kim Yo-jong, Mr. Kim's sister and spokeswoman, seemed to sound a positive note about the relationship. 'I do not want to deny the fact that the personal relationship between the head of our state and the present U.S. president is not bad,' Ms. Kim said. While her comment appeared to leave the door ajar for a resumption of talks, Ms. Kim made clear that the country would not join any negotiations about dismantling its nuclear arsenal. Any effort to leverage personal relations to deny North Korea status as a nuclear power 'will be thoroughly rejected,' she said in the statement, which was carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. (Earlier this year, Mr. Trump told reporters that Mr. Kim was 'a nuclear power,' although Washington has long refused to accept North Korea as such and still insists on eliminating its nuclear weapons program.) Much has changed since Mr. Trump's first term, when he met Mr. Kim three times. Those historic talks put the reclusive North Korean leader on the global stage. But the talks ultimately fizzled out in an embarrassing failure for Mr. Kim, who returned home without the lifting of sanctions that he badly needed to improve the lives of his long-suffering people. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Telegraph
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
North Korea tells Trump to accept new nuclear reality
Donald Trump must accept a 'changed reality' and recognise North Korea as a nuclear power if the United States wants to resume talks, Kim Jong-un's sister has warned. On Tuesday, Kim Yo-jong said that although the 'personal relationship' between her brother and Mr Trump is 'not bad', it should not be exploited to discuss denuclearisation. 'Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] as a nuclear weapons state... will be thoroughly rejected,' Ms Kim said in a statement issued by Korean Central News Agency, a state media outlet. Ms Kim – who is often seen as the public face of the regime's diplomatic messaging – added that 'it is worth taking into account the fact that the year 2025 is neither 2018 nor 2019'. During Mr Trump's first term in office, he met Kim Jong-un in person three times, yet talks fell short of an agreement on denuclearisation. Instead, North Korea has accelerated its nuclear programme in defiance of international sanctions. It has said this is justified as a deterrent against perceived threats – particularly from South Korea and the US. The state has also grown much closer to Russia and emerged as a key ally of Vladimir Putin in his war on Ukraine. According to the British Ministry of Defence, around 6,000 North Koreans have been killed or wounded while fighting against Ukraine in Russia's Kursk region. Ms Kim said any attempt by Washington to use potential talks to discuss denuclearisation would 'be interpreted as nothing but a mockery', given North Korea's evolving position on the world stage. Her comments appeared to be a response to a report from the South Korean Yonhap News Agency, in which an unnamed White House official said that Mr Trump 'remains open to engaging with Leader Kim to achieve a fully denuclearised North Korea'. It also comes amid overtures from South Korea's new liberal government to improve frayed relations. Since Lee Jae Myung took office in early June, Seoul has stopped anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts at the countries' shared border, taken steps to ban activists from flying balloons with propaganda leaflets and repatriated North Koreans who had drifted south in wooden boats. But these efforts have so far been rebuffed by the North. On Monday, in Pyongyang's first official statement on the South's new government, Ms Kim said its 'blind trust' in the country's alliance with the US and hostility toward the North were no different from its conservative predecessor. On Tuesday South Korea's Ministry of Unification said it would actively support any resumption of talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
New York Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
North Korea Rejects New South Korean Leader's Peace Overtures
North Korea on Monday rejected the new South Korean president's proposal for talks, saying that his policy toward the North was no different than that of his ousted predecessor, under whom relations had plunged to the lowest point in years. Since taking office on June 4, President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea has repeatedly said that he wanted to ease tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula by improving ties that deteriorated under his conservative predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol. As gestures of good will, Mr. Lee banned anti-North Korean activists from sending leaflets into the North by balloon. He also stopped the loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the border that had long angered Pyongyang. Earlier this month, South Korea even switched off shortwave radio broadcasts that had carried similar propaganda for over a half century. But such efforts by Mr. Lee were 'not the work worthy of appreciation,' said Kim Yo-jong, who speaks for her brother, Kim Jong-un, the top leader of North Korea, in a statement carried in North Korean state media on Monday. 'No matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither the reason to meet nor the issue to be discussed with the ROK,' Ms. Kim said, using the acronym for the South's official name, Republic of Korea. She cited the South Korean government's ongoing alliance with the United States and the countries' plans to continue holding annual joint military drills as evidence of little change under the new administration. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
