Latest news with #KimJongun
New York Times
16 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Times
North Korea Says Kim's Relations With Trump ‘Not Bad,' but Stands Firm on Nukes
Since returning to the White House, President Trump has expressed interest in re-engaging with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, saying the two men had forged a friendship when they met several times during his first term. His offer met with a stony silence until Tuesday, when North Korean state media quoted Kim Yo-jong, Mr. Kim's sister and spokeswoman, seemed to sound a positive note about the relationship. '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,' Ms. Kim said. While her comment appeared to leave the door ajar for a resumption of talks, Ms. Kim made clear that the country would not join any negotiations about dismantling its nuclear arsenal. Any effort to leverage personal relations to deny North Korea status as a nuclear power 'will be thoroughly rejected,' she said in the statement, which was carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. (Earlier this year, Mr. Trump told reporters that Mr. Kim was 'a nuclear power,' although Washington has long refused to accept North Korea as such and still insists on eliminating its nuclear weapons program.) Much has changed since Mr. Trump's first term, when he met Mr. Kim three times. Those historic talks put the reclusive North Korean leader on the global stage. But the talks ultimately fizzled out in an embarrassing failure for Mr. Kim, who returned home without the lifting of sanctions that he badly needed to improve the lives of his long-suffering people. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Telegraph
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
North Korea tells Trump to accept new nuclear reality
Donald Trump must accept a 'changed reality' and recognise North Korea as a nuclear power if the United States wants to resume talks, Kim Jong-un's sister has warned. On Tuesday, Kim Yo-jong said that although the 'personal relationship' between her brother and Mr Trump is 'not bad', it should not be exploited to discuss denuclearisation. 'Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] as a nuclear weapons state... will be thoroughly rejected,' Ms Kim said in a statement issued by Korean Central News Agency, a state media outlet. Ms Kim – who is often seen as the public face of the regime's diplomatic messaging – added that 'it is worth taking into account the fact that the year 2025 is neither 2018 nor 2019'. During Mr Trump's first term in office, he met Kim Jong-un in person three times, yet talks fell short of an agreement on denuclearisation. Instead, North Korea has accelerated its nuclear programme in defiance of international sanctions. It has said this is justified as a deterrent against perceived threats – particularly from South Korea and the US. The state has also grown much closer to Russia and emerged as a key ally of Vladimir Putin in his war on Ukraine. According to the British Ministry of Defence, around 6,000 North Koreans have been killed or wounded while fighting against Ukraine in Russia's Kursk region. Ms Kim said any attempt by Washington to use potential talks to discuss denuclearisation would 'be interpreted as nothing but a mockery', given North Korea's evolving position on the world stage. Her comments appeared to be a response to a report from the South Korean Yonhap News Agency, in which an unnamed White House official said that Mr Trump 'remains open to engaging with Leader Kim to achieve a fully denuclearised North Korea'. It also comes amid overtures from South Korea's new liberal government to improve frayed relations. Since Lee Jae Myung took office in early June, Seoul has stopped anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts at the countries' shared border, taken steps to ban activists from flying balloons with propaganda leaflets and repatriated North Koreans who had drifted south in wooden boats. But these efforts have so far been rebuffed by the North. On Monday, in Pyongyang's first official statement on the South's new government, Ms Kim said its 'blind trust' in the country's alliance with the US and hostility toward the North were no different from its conservative predecessor. On Tuesday South Korea's Ministry of Unification said it would actively support any resumption of talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
New York Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
North Korea Rejects New South Korean Leader's Peace Overtures
North Korea on Monday rejected the new South Korean president's proposal for talks, saying that his policy toward the North was no different than that of his ousted predecessor, under whom relations had plunged to the lowest point in years. Since taking office on June 4, President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea has repeatedly said that he wanted to ease tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula by improving ties that deteriorated under his conservative predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol. As gestures of good will, Mr. Lee banned anti-North Korean activists from sending leaflets into the North by balloon. He also stopped the loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the border that had long angered Pyongyang. Earlier this month, South Korea even switched off shortwave radio broadcasts that had carried similar propaganda for over a half century. But such efforts by Mr. Lee were 'not the work worthy of appreciation,' said Kim Yo-jong, who speaks for her brother, Kim Jong-un, the top leader of North Korea, in a statement carried in North Korean state media on Monday. 'No matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither the reason to meet nor the issue to be discussed with the ROK,' Ms. Kim said, using the acronym for the South's official name, Republic of Korea. She cited the South Korean government's ongoing alliance with the United States and the countries' plans to continue holding annual joint military drills as evidence of little change under the new administration. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
North Korea's Kim vows to win 'anti-US showdown'
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un says the country will achieve victory in "anti-imperalist, anti-US" battles, as the country marks the anniversary of the Korean War armistice, state media reports. Kim "affirmed that our state and its people would surely achieve the great cause of building a rich country with a strong army and become honourable victors in the anti-imperialist, anti-US showdown", KCNA state news agency said, referring to Kim's visit to a war museum on a previous day. North Korea signed an armistice agreement with the United States and China on July 27, 1953, ending the fighting in the three-year war. US generals signed the agreement representing the United Nations forces that backed South Korea. North Korea calls July 27 "Victory Day" even though the armistice drew a border dividing the Korean peninsula roughly equally in area and restoring balance after the two sides had made major advances back and forth during the war. South Korea does not mark the day with any major events. North Korea is now fighting alongside Russia in the war in Ukraine. Thousands of North Korean troops were deployed to Russia's Kursk region, while Pyongyang has also supplied Russia with munitions. It may deploy more troops in July or August, South Korea has said. Kim also visited memorials honouring the veterans of the 1950-53 war, including the Tower of Friendship, remembering the Chinese People's Liberation Army soldiers who fought with the North Koreans. The leader also met soldiers in an artillery regiment to celebrate the day, state media KCNA said.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
North Korean youths face forced labor for 'South Korean' dialect
Four North Korean youths could face a year in brutal forced labour camps after reportedly being arrested for 'talking like South Koreans'. The group, all in their twenties, were arrested in Chongjin, the country's third largest city, after being reported for mimicking lines from South Korean films. State security authorities were tipped off by a local residents who had overheard the four. The young adults are currently being questioned by Chongjin's Ministry of State Security and could be sentenced to a year in Kim Jong-un 's cruel labour camps, according to Daily NK. North Korea has increasingly cracked down on what it claims are South Korean influences in recent years. Kim Jong-un has previously described K-pop as a 'vicious cancer ' while they have targeted other slang words. A 2020 law made the distribution of South Korean programmes punishable by death, while those watching it could face 15 years in a prison camp. A year later the brutal regime passed a law, Article 41 of North Korea's Youth Education Guarantee Act, which banned young people from speaking or writing 'in odd speech patterns that are not our own.' The use of 'non-socialist' language is also prohibited but South Korean slang is thought to be quietly spreading among young people. 'These days, young people are careful to avoid South Korean speech during official activities because they know about the crackdowns, but when they're with friends, they use it without hesitation—mimicking lines from South Korean movies and shows,' a source told Daily NK. People's phones and messages are being searched for South Korean slang, according to a report from South Korea's Unification Ministry based on the testimony of hundreds of defectors. Searches of homes have also increased since 2021, with authorities looking for signs of outside culture. Meanwhile, last year, footage emerged of two teenage boys being sentenced to 12 years of hard labour for watching K-dramas. The rare footage showed two 16-year-old boys being handcuffed by uniformed officers in front of hundreds of students at an outdoor stadium at an unknown location. The youngsters were arrested for not 'deeply reflecting on their mistakes' after they were caught watching South Korean television, which is banned in the North along with K-pop music. Minors who broke the law would be sent to youth labour camps in the past, and generally the punishment would be for less than five years. Footage from inside the hermit nation is rare as Kim Jong Un forbids the release of any video and photos of life in the country from being shown to the outside world.
