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

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, in a speech to Pyongyang’s rubber-stamp parliament published by state media on Monday. He also said he has no intention of resuming dialogue with South Korea, a longtime U.S. ally that helped broker Kim’s summits with Trump during the American president’s first term. Kim suspended virtually all cooperation with the South after the collapse of his second summit with Trump in 2019 over disagreements about U.S.-led sanctions.

In the address to the Supreme People’s Assembly, Kim reiterated that he would never give up his nuclear weapons program, telling the public that the world already knows well what the United States does after forcing other countries to give up their nuclear weapons and disarm. He warned that there would be no negotiations with hostile countries in exchange for lifting sanctions, saying 'We will never lay down our nuclear weapons … There will be no negotiations, now or never, about trading anything with hostile countries in exchange for lifting sanctions.'

Kim said he still holds 'good personal memories' of Trump from their first meetings and that there is 'no reason not to' resume talks with the United States if Washington abandons its 'delusional obsession with denuclearization.' Analysts say Kim’s nuclear push is aimed at pressuring Washington to accept the North as a nuclear power and to win concessions from a position of strength.

Kim has sought to bolster his leverage by strengthening cooperation with traditional allies Russia and China, in an emerging partnership aimed at undercutting U.S. influence. He has sent thousands of troops and huge supplies of military equipment to Russia to help support President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. He visited Beijing earlier this month, sharing the spotlight with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin at a massive military parade.

Experts say Kim’s rare foreign trip was likely intended to boost his leverage ahead of a potential resumption of talks with the United States. There’s growing concern in Seoul that it could lose its voice in future efforts to defuse the nuclear standoff on the peninsula, as the North seeks to negotiate directly with the United States. Such fears were amplified last year when Kim declared that he was abandoning North Korea’s long-standing goal of peaceful unification with South Korea and ordered a rewriting of the North’s constitution to cement the South as a permanent enemy.

The remarks come as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung prepares to depart for New York to address the United Nations General Assembly, where he is expected to address nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula and call on North Korea to return to talks. Trump is also expected to visit South Korea next month to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 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, which ultimately failed to salvage their nuclear diplomacy.