Kim Jong-un Cites ‘Good Memory’ of Trump in Conditional Offer of Talks

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – In a significant and carefully calibrated diplomatic signal, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has declared that Pyongyang is open to resuming dialogue with the United States, but only if Washington abandons its long-standing and central demand for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

In a speech that blended a firm rejection of nuclear disarmament with a rare and personal overture to U.S. President Donald Trump, Kim stated that he still holds a "good memory" of the American leader, a comment that is likely to fuel intense speculation about a potential fourth meeting between the two men.

The remarks were delivered during a two-day session of the Supreme People's Assembly, North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament, and were reported by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.

Kim’s statement represents his first direct public comment on his relationship with President Trump since the U.S. leader began his second term in January and comes just a month after Trump himself expressed a desire to meet with the North Korean leader again this year.

Kim made it unequivocally clear that North Korea’s status as a nuclear-armed state is non-negotiable, a position he said is now enshrined in the country’s constitution. "I affirm that there will never, never be denuclearization for us," Kim declared, emphasizing that his nation's nuclear weapons are not a "bargaining chip" to be traded for sanctions relief.

"There will never be such negotiations with the enemies as trading something while being obsessed with sanctions relief," he added.

However, within this framework of nuclear intransigence, Kim opened a potential, albeit narrow, path for diplomacy. He stated that the North could sit down with the U.S. if Washington is prepared to accept the reality of Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities and pursue a relationship based on peaceful coexistence.

"If the U.S. drops its hollow obsession with denuclearization and wants to pursue peaceful coexistence with North Korea based on the recognition of reality, there is no reason for us not to sit down with the U.S.," Kim said.

It was in this context that he made his personal appeal to President Trump, a leader with whom he has had a historically unprecedented, though ultimately unsuccessful, diplomatic engagement. "Personally, I still have a good memory of U.S. President Trump," Kim stated. This personal note echoes a comment made in July by his powerful sister, Kim Yo-jong, who said that the personal ties between the two leaders are "not bad."

Kim’s message arrives at a moment of heightened speculation that President Trump may seek another surprise meeting with the North Korean leader, possibly during his upcoming trip to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

The inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, where the two leaders held a brief, impromptu meeting in June 2019, has been mooted as a potential venue. That border crossing was the third of their face-to-face encounters during Trump's first term, following two formal summits in Singapore in June 2018 and Hanoi in February 2019.

The Hanoi summit collapsed without a deal due to sharp disagreements over the scope of North Korea’s denuclearization in exchange for the easing of crippling international sanctions, and high-level talks have been stalled ever since.

While the official U.S. and South Korean position remains the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, some experts believe President Trump might be open to a more limited "small deal" with the North, such as a freeze on its nuclear program or a partial disarmament, as a means of restarting the dialogue process.

This possibility has found a receptive audience in South Korea's new president, Lee Jae Myung. Since taking office in June, President Lee has pursued a peace overture toward the North in an effort to mend frayed inter-Korean ties.

During a summit with President Trump in Washington in August, Lee publicly supported Trump's pursuit of dialogue with Kim, asking the U.S. leader to play a "peacemaker role" and chart a "new path" for peace.

In a recent interview with the BBC, President Lee went further, stating that his government would accept a potential deal between Trump and Kim to freeze the North's nuclear programs as an "an interim emergency measure" and "a feasible, realistic alternative."

In his speech, however, Kim Jong-un sharply rejected President Lee's proposed three-stage denuclearization plan, dismissing it as a mere "copy" of his predecessors' failed proposals.

He also reaffirmed his deeply hostile stance toward South Korea, a policy he first articulated in December 2023 when he defined inter-Korean relations as those between "two states hostile to each other."

Kim reiterated that he would neither sit down with Seoul for talks nor seek unification. "We will never unify with a country that entrusts its politics and defense to a foreign power," he declared, calling the prospect of unification "unnecessary."

Kim also issued a chilling and direct military threat against the South, stating that if North Korea is unable to use its nuclear weapons as a war deterrent, it would stage a nuclear attack.

"Then, the military organization and the substructure of the Republic of Korea and its allies of surrounding areas will collapse in an instant. This means an annihilation," Kim threatened, using South Korea's official name.

The North Korean leader also used his address to tout what he described as key accomplishments in the defense sector this year, including the construction of new naval destroyers and the acquisition of new "secret weapons," though he did not provide any further details.

"We've newly possessed secret weapons and achieved feats in the defense science field that will greatly help bolster our military capability," he said.

The combination of a diplomatic opening to Washington with harsh threats against Seoul is a classic North Korean strategy, designed to drive a wedge between the allies while creating leverage for potential negotiations. As the world watches for President Trump's next move, Kim Jong-un has laid out his terms, placing the ball firmly in Washington's court.