Kim Yo-jong, vice department head of North Korea's Labor Party, said, 'If the United States cannot accept the changed reality and clings only to the past, the meeting between North Korea and the United States will only remain as the United States' 'hope.'
Vice department head Kim, who is the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, released a statement titled 'The contacts between North Korea and the United States are merely the United States' 'hope'' through the external media outlet Korean Central News Agency on the 29th.
A White House official has stated that they are open to dialogue with North Korea for denuclearization. Vice department head Kim referred to this, noting, 'It is necessary to remember that 2025 is not 2018 or 2019.'
North Korea and the United States held summits in Singapore in June 2018 and in Hanoi in February 2019. They also met at Panmunjom in June 2019. Vice department head Kim said, 'I do not want to deny the fact that the personal relationship between our national leader and the current U.S. President is not bad,' but added, 'If the personal relationship between the leaders of North Korea and the United States becomes linked to the goal of denuclearization, it can only be interpreted as mockery of the other side.'
He continued, 'The recognition of the undeniable fact that our nation's irreversible nuclear status and capabilities, as well as the geopolitical environment, have fundamentally changed must serve as the premise for predicting and considering everything going forward.'
Vice department head Kim also said, 'Any attempt to deny our country's nuclear status, which is established with strong nuclear deterrence and enshrined as the highest law by the will of the entire Korean people, will be thoroughly rejected,' adding, 'There should be at least minimal judgment to acknowledge that the confrontation between two nuclear-armed countries is never beneficial for either side, and if so, it would be wise to seek other avenues for contact based on such new thinking.'