SEOUL – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said there is no reason not to resume stalled negotiations with the U.S., if Washington drops its "obsession" with eliminating North Korea's nuclear weapons.
It would appear to be Kim's clearest message of his willingness to meet with president Trump and revive diplomacy that has been stalled since 2019.
"If the U.S. drops its hollow obsession with denuclearization and wants to pursue peaceful coexistence with North Korea based on the recognition of reality, there is no reason for us not to sit down with the U.S.," Kim told a meeting of North Korea's legislature, the Supreme People's Assembly.
"Personally, I still have good memories of U.S. President Trump," Kim added.
Kim and Trump met in Singapore, Vietnam and the inter-Korean border in 2018 and 2019, during Trump's first administration, but failed to reach a deal on denuclearization in exchange for lifting sanctions on Pyongyang.
Kim added that North Korea developed nuclear weapons to ensure its survival, and it has written its irreversible nuclear status into its constitution.
"The world already knows well what the United States does after forcing other countries to give up their nuclear weapons and disarm," he said. Kim and North Korean officials have repeatedly cited Iraq and Libya as states that the U.S. has disarmed before backing leadership change.
President Trump told visiting South Korean President Lee Jae Myung last month that he would like to meet with Kim Jong Un this year. He has repeatedly referred to North Korea as a "nuclear power."
That implies recognizing North Korea as a nuclear state, which is something previous U.S. administrations and foreign governments have consistently opposed.
In a meeting in July, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun reaffirmed their governments' intention to realize the denuclearization of North Korea.
Should Trump and Kim meet again this year, Trump would find Kim in a far stronger negotiating position, with a larger nuclear arsenal and stronger backing from Russia and China.
Kim illustrated this point at a military parade in Beijing this month, where he appeared together for the first time with Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's leader Xi Jinping.
While leaving the door open to the U.S., Kim appeared to slam another one on South Korea shut.
"We will never unify with a country that entrusts its politics and defense to a foreign power," Kim said, calling inter-Korean unification "unnecessary."
Last year, Kim said North Korea was abandoning its long-held goal of eventual reunification with the South, and severed all communications.
Since taking office in June, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has extended olive branches to the North, such as halting propaganda broadcasts into the North, but he has been repeatedly rebuffed.
Lee has outlined a plan for denuclearizing North Korea in three steps: freezing, reducing and eventually dismantling the North's nuclear arsenal.
He says he will persist with his efforts to restore peace and trust with the North, despite Pyongyang's cold shoulder.
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