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Trump willing to engage in dialogue with North's leader despite rebuff from Kim Yo-jong

Published: 29 Jul. 2025, 10:26 Updated: 29 Jul. 2025, 17:27

LIM JEONG-WON
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U.S. President Donald Trump, left, meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the North Korean side of the Korean border at the village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone on June 30, 2019. [AP/YONHAP]

U.S. President Donald Trump still expressed willingness to engage in dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to achieve denuclearization on Monday, following Kim's sister Kim Yo-jong's statement dismissing the possibility of denuclearization talks between the North and the United States.

His remarks came after Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader’s sister and a senior regime official, dismissed the idea of renewed talks with Washington. In a statement released through the Korean Central News Agency, she said any future DPRK-U.S. meeting would remain a “hope” only for the United States.

“If the U.S. fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK-U.S. meeting will remain as a 'hope' of the U.S. side,” she said in the English statement released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

DPRK stands for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

She acknowledged Trump’s rapport with Kim Jong-un. “I do not want to deny the fact that the personal relationship between the head of our state and the present U.S. president is not bad,” she said.

North Korea and the United States previously held summits in Singapore in June 2018 and Hanoi in February 2019, while Kim Jong-un and Trump met at Panmunjom along the inter-Korean border in June 2019 during the U.S. leader's first term.

But Kim Yo-jong emphasized that 2025 is not 2018 or 2019. She dismissed the idea that the personal bond between the two leaders could lead to meaningful progress.

“If the personal relations between the top leaders of the DPRK and the U.S. are to serve the purpose of denuclearization, it can be interpreted as nothing but a mockery of the other party,” she said.

She said future dialogue must begin with U.S. recognition of North Korea as a nuclear-armed state. “The recognition of the irreversible position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state and the hard fact that its capabilities and geopolitical environment have radically changed should be a prerequisite for predicting and thinking everything in the future,” she said.

Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, attends a wreath laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi on March 2, 2019. [JOONGANG ILBO]

“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 Yo-jong warned.

“There should be a minimum judgment to admit that it is by no means beneficial to each other for the two countries possessed of nuclear weapons to go in a confrontational direction, and if so, it would be advisable to seek another way of contact on the basis of such new thinking."

In response, the White House told Reuters that Trump remains committed to engagement.

“The president retains those objectives and remains open to engaging with Leader Kim to achieve a fully denuclearized North Korea,” a White House official said.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lee Jae-woong speaks during a regular press briefing at the government complex in Jongno District, central Seoul on July 29. [YONHAP]

The South Korean government in turn voiced continued support for the resumption of U.S.-North Korea talks and reaffirmed its commitment to creating favorable conditions to facilitate dialogue.

"South Korea and the United States will continue to maintain close communication and coordination on all aspects of North Korea policy, including potential future U.S.-North Korea talks," said Seoul's presidential office on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Unification echoed this stance.

"We actively support the resumption of U.S.-North Korea talks for the sake of peace on the Korean Peninsula and stability in Northeast Asia," the Ministry of Unification also said. "We will unwaveringly pursue efforts to rebuild trust between the two Koreas within a peaceful atmosphere and foster conditions conducive to the resumption of dialogue between North Korea and the United States."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also emphasized joint goals. “There is a shared understanding between South Korea and the United States that the ultimate goal is the complete denuclearization of North Korea,” spokesperson Lee Jae-woong said at a regular briefing Tuesday.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY KIM EUN-BIN, KIM JI-HYE, LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]