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In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday, Kim Yo Jong — the sister of leader Kim — said the US should start acknowledging the North's 'radically changed' capabilities and that Pyongyang is open to 'any option' to defend its national interest.
'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 said. But Kim added, 'it is worth taking into account the fact that the year 2025 is neither 2018 nor 2019.'
Trump and Kim Jong Un met in person three times during the US president's first term, but the discussions didn't persuade Kim to slow the development of his nuclear weapons program. North Korea has since rebuffed the idea of sitting down with the US again and has emerged as a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, supporting his war on Ukraine.
North Korea possesses a growing arsenal of nuclear weapons, developed in defiance of international sanctions. Its nuclear program includes both atomic bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the US mainland. Pyongyang justifies its ambitions as a deterrent against perceived threats, especially from the US and South Korea.
In a shift from past rhetoric ruling out any engagement, the younger Kim said that the two countries should avoid going in a confrontational direction. 'If so, it would be advisable to seek another way of contact on the basis of such new thinking,' Kim said in the latest statement.
Kim Yo Jong has served as the public face of the North's diplomatic messaging, especially when signaling shifts or hardline positions. She is often described as Kim Jong Un's de facto second-in-command on inter-Korean affairs.
Last year, North Korea released its first photos of a facility to enrich uranium for atomic bombs, indicating it no longer sees a need to hide a program it once furiously denied when then-President George W. Bush first made the accusation in 2002. Kim Jong Un toured a laboratory making weapons-grade nuclear materials in January again and said the country should strengthen its nuclear shield.
'If the US fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK-US meeting will remain a hope of the US side,' Kim Yo Jong said.
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