Kim Jong declares developing nuclear weapons Pyongyang’s issue of survival against ‘serious threats’ posed by US, South Korea
- I still have good memories of US President Trump,” declares Kim.
- Accompanying statement that North Korea will ‘never ever’ negotiate on issue.
- President of South Korea Lee says sanctions, pressure have not worked.
SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un explained on Monday that there is no need to shun dialogue with the US if Washington ends its demand that his nation abandon its nuclear weapons but he will never make a trade-off of the nuclear weapons in order to be free of sanctions, state media said.
During a speech at the Supreme People’s Assembly on Sunday, Kim stated: “Personally, I still have good memories of US President Trump,” KCNA reported. The two leaders had met three times during Trump’s first term.
The remarks come when the new liberal government in Seoul is pushing Trump to lead the way in the resumption of talks with Kim, six years since all peace negotiations with Pyongyang broke down over a disagreement on sanctions and nuclear disarming.
North Korea can negotiate with US if it drops insistence on denuclearisation, asserts Kim
“If the United States drops the absurd obsession with denuclearising us and accepts reality, and wants genuine peaceful coexistence, there is no reason for us not to sit down with the United States,” Kim was quoted as saying.
It was a question of survival for the nation to develop nuclear weapons to defend its security from serious threats from the United States and South Korea, Kim stated, naming a series of routine military exercises by the allies that he claimed have become war drills for a nuclear war.
New Washington and Seoul overtures for talks are insincere since their underlying aim to undermine the North and bring down his regime has not changed, Kim added, citing a step-by-step proposal by the South to end the North’s nuclear programs as evidence.
“The world already knows in full well what the United States does after it makes a nation surrender its nuclear weapons and disarms,” Kim said. “We will never abandon our nuclear weapons.”
‘No negotiations for eternity’
“There will never be, and will never ever be for eternity, any negotiations with enemies of exchanging some things out of some obsession with lifting sanctions.”
Sanctions have been “a learning experience” and strengthened and made his nation more resilient, he claimed.
North Korea has been subject to a series of UN Security Council resolutions that placed economic sanctions and arms embargoes on it that have tightened the purse strings for military development but nevertheless have continued to advance in developing nuclear weapons and advanced ballistic missiles.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told Reuters in an interview that those sanctions have never deterred the North, which is adding enormous nuclear weapons between 15 to 20 to its stockpile every year today.
“The fact of the matter is, the old strategy of sanctions and pressure has not solved the issue; it has made it worse,” Lee explained.
Lee has also made overtures for peace since his inauguration in June, stating that talks with Pyongyang were required, and has proposed measures to establish confidence-building and ultimately terminate the North’s nuclear programme.
Lee informed Reuters there were significant challenges to the resumption of dialogue with the North but he still believed the multi-stage plan on dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programme was the feasible option.
It was required to establish the appropriate conditions to return the North to negotiations and Trump has a crucial role to play in those, said Lee.
