Kim Yo-jong, sister to North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, said Pyongyang was unwilling to discuss denuclearization with the US and would only engage with Washington if the demand was dropped.

Kim made the statement in response to a report that the White House was willing to reopen talks with Pyongyang if it led to a “fully denuclearized” North Korea. “It is worth taking into account the fact that the year 2025 is neither 2018 nor 2019,” she said. “Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state which was established along with the existence of a powerful nuclear deterrent and fixed by the supreme law reflecting the unanimous will of all the DPRK people will be thoroughly rejected.”

Kim, who is the Vice Department Director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, went on to say that Pyongyang would be open to talks if Washington respected its nuclear doctrine. 

“I do not want to deny the fact that the personal relationship between the head of our state and the present US president is not bad,” she explained. “However, if the personal relations between the top leaders of the DPRK and the United States are to serve the purpose of denuclearization, it can be interpreted as nothing but a mockery of the other party.”

The remarks from Kim on Tuesday follow a statement the day before rejecting engagement with the new South Korean government. “We clarify once again the official stand that 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,” Kim said, according to North Korean state media. 

She pointed to the US-South Korean military relationship as the reason for rejecting talks with Seoul. 

During his first term in office, Trump held three summits with Supreme Leader Kim. At the end of his first administration, tensions on the Korean Peninsula had dipped as Washington and Seoul canceled war games and Pyongyang halted missile tests. 

Under President Joe Biden, the US restated the military drill and increased the number of participants. Additionally, the Biden administration worked to bring Japan into a military pact with South Korea and the US. Pyongyang denounced the military bloc as an Asian NATO.