Kuwait city: North Korea stated that the United States must acknowledge the altered reality and recognize North Korea as a nuclear weapons state in order to engage in future discussions, as reported by state media.
According to Kuwait News Agency, Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, expressed these sentiments through a statement released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). She emphasized that while the personal relationship between her brother and the current US president is not unfavorable, using these relations to drive denuclearization efforts would be perceived as a mockery.
Kim Yo-jong, who also serves as vice department director of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, warned that without accepting the changed reality, any DPRK-US meeting would remain merely a "hope" for the United States. She highlighted that North Korea's nuclear capabilities and the geopolitical environment have significantly evolved, and any attempt to disregard North Korea's status as a nuclear weapons state would be firmly rejected.
She further noted that the context has changed since the previous meetings between Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, which took place three times since June 2018. These meetings involved discussions where the US promised security assurances in exchange for North Korea's complete denuclearization. However, talks were halted following the unsuccessful summit in Hanoi in February 2019, despite another meeting in Panmunjeom in June 2019.