North Korea can talk to US if it stops insisting on denuclearisation, Kim says

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said there is no reason to avoid dialogue with the US if Washington stops insisting his country give up nuclear weapons but he will never trade away the nuclear arsenal to be free of sanctions, state media reported on Monday.

In a speech at the Supreme People’s Assembly on Sunday, Kim said: “Personally, I still have fond memories of US President (Donald) Trump,” KCNA reported. The two leaders met three times during Trump’s first presidency.

The comments come at a time the new liberal government in Seoul is urging Trump to take the lead in reopening dialogue with Kim, six years after all peace talks with Pyongyang collapsed over a clash on sanctions and nuclear dismantlement.

“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 matter of survival for the country to build nuclear weapons to safeguard its security against grave threats from the United States and South Korea, Kim said, listing a series of regular military drills by the allies that he said have evolved into exercises for a nuclear war.

Recent overtures from Washington and Seoul for dialogue are disingenuous because their fundamental intent to weaken the North and destroy his regime remains unchanged, Kim said, adding a phased proposal by the South on ending the North’s nuclear programmes was proof of that.

“The world already knows full well what the United States does after it makes a country give up its nuclear weapons and disarms,” Kim said. “We will never give up our nuclear weapons.”

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‘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 made his country stronger and more resilient, he said.

North Korea has been under a series of UN Security Council resolutions imposing economic sanctions and arms embargoes that have squeezed funding for military development but it has continued to make advances in building nuclear weapons and powerful ballistic missiles.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said in an interview with Reuters those sanctions have ultimately failed to deter the North, which today is adding massive nuclear weapons numbering 15 to 20 to its arsenal every year.

“The reality is that the previous approach of sanctions and pressure has not solved the problem; it has worsened it,” Lee said.

Lee has made peace overtures since taking office in June, saying dialogue with Pyongyang was necessary, and has proposed steps to build confidence and eventually end the North’s nuclear programme.

Lee told Reuters there are formidable obstacles to reopening dialogue with the North but he still believed the phased approach on dismantling Pyongyangs nuclear programme was the realistic option.

It was necessary to create the right conditions to bring the North back to the table and Trump has a key role to play in those efforts, Lee said.