North Korea issued a warning to Washington, insisting that any attempt by President Donald Trump’s second administration to revive stalled denuclearisation talks would be “nothing but a mockery.” In a statement broadcast by North Korean state media, Kim Yo Jong—the sister of leader Kim Jong Un—made it clear that while personal ties between Trump and Kim remain “not bad,” Pyongyang now sees discussions about its growing nuclear arsenal as firmly off the table, reported Fox News.She noted that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal has grown significantly since the last meeting between the two leaders and said another summit would not happen if denuclearisation remained on the agenda.“If the US fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK- US meeting will remain as a ‘hope’ of the US side,” Kim Yo Jong said, referring to her country by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “It would be advisable to seek another way of contact,” she added as quoted by Fox News.She left the door open for dialogue with the US, unlike in a separate statement where she ruled out talks with South Korea.Trump met with Kim Jong Un three times during his first term: In Singapore in 2018, in Hanoi in 2019, and at the Korean Demilitarized Zone later that year, becoming the first sitting US president to step foot on North Korean soil. Despite the historic meetings, no agreements were reached, North Korea kept its nuclear weapons, and US sanctions remained in place.Kim Yo Jong is a top official on the central committee of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party and oversees relations with both the US and South Korea.Her comments followed a Yonhap news agency report citing an unnamed White House official who said Trump “remains open to engaging with Leader Kim to achieve a fully denuclearised North Korea.”White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last month that Trump hopes to see “progress” in his second term on the summits he held with Kim.In a separate statement on Monday marking the 72nd anniversary of the end of the Korean War, Trump said, “I was proud to become the first sitting President to cross this demilitarized zone into North Korea.” He also reaffirmed the US alliance with South Korea, saying, “Although the evils of communism still persist in Asia, American and South Korean forces remain united in an ironclad alliance to this day.”
