Kim Jong Un says he has 'good memories' of Trump, urges U.S. to drop denuclearization demands

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he still has good memories of U.S. President Donald Trump and urged Washington to drop its demand that the North surrender its nuclear weapons as a precondition for resuming diplomacy, state media reported Monday. Kim also stressed that he has no intention of ever resuming dialogue with rival South Korea.

Addressing the Supreme People's Assembly, Pyongyang's rubber-stamp legislature, Kim said there would be no negotiations on trading sanctions relief for denuclearization and that his country would never abandon its nuclear weapons. "There will be no negotiations, now or ever, about trading anything with hostile countries in exchange for lifting sanctions," he said, according to the report. He also asserted that "the world already knows well what the United States does after forcing other countries to give up their nuclear weapons and disarm."

The remarks come as tensions on the Korean Peninsula have worsened in recent years, with Pyongyang accelerating weapons testing and expanding cooperation with Russia over the war in Ukraine. Analysts say Kim views his nuclear program as the strongest guarantee of survival and a tool to extend his family’s dynastic rule. He has also signaled a broader push to bolster leverage by strengthening cooperation with traditional allies Russia and China.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung departed for New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, where he is expected to address nuclear tensions and press for a resumption of talks with the North. Former U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to visit South Korea next month for the APEC summit, prompting media speculation that he may try to meet Kim at the inter-Korean border, as they did during their third meeting in 2019 that failed to salvage nuclear diplomacy.

Kim’s remarks come as he has intensified testing activities in recent years, demonstrating weapons of various ranges designed to strike U.S. allies in Asia and the U.S. mainland. Analysts say the North’s nuclear push is aimed at pressuring Washington to accept the North as a nuclear power and to negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength. The North Korean leader travelled to Beijing earlier this month, sharing the spotlight with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a massive military parade.

Experts say Kim’s rare foreign trip was likely intended to bolster his leverage ahead of a potential resumption of talks with the United States. There are growing concerns in Seoul that Pyongyang could bypass its ally and neighbor and pursue direct negotiations with Washington. The North has previously indicated it would not abandon its core goal of preserving regime security, even as it pursues broader international accommodations.

Such a stance has heightened regional anxiety, including in Seoul, where officials warn that Pyongyang’s moves complicate efforts to maintain a unified diplomacy front and to keep the door open for talks. Earlier in the year, Kim signaled a shift away from his long-standing objective of peaceful unification with the South by ordering changes to North Korea’s constitution to frame the South as a permanent adversary.