North Korea: ‘No Need’ for Another U.S. Summit
SEOUL (Dispatches) -- The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Friday there was "no need” for another summit with the United States unless Washington offered a "decisive change” in approach.
Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump first met in Singapore two years ago but talks over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal have been stalled since their Hanoi summit collapsed in early 2019 over what the North would be willing to give up in exchange for sanctions relief.
Trump said this week he would "certainly” meet with Kim again "if I thought it was going to be helpful”, after speculation that he might pursue another summit if it could help his re-election chances in November.
But in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo Jong -- who has emerged as one of her brother’s closest advisers -- said: "There is no need for us to sit across with the U.S. right now.”
If a summit was held, she said, "it is too obvious that it will only be used as boring boasting coming from someone’s pride”.
Denuclearization, she added, was "not possible at this point”, and could only happen alongside parallel "irreversible simultaneous major steps” by the other side -- which she emphasized did not refer to sanctions lifting.
She did not go into specifics, but Washington stations 28,500 troops in the South which North Korea regards as a threat, and has a range of military assets in Japan and the wider Pacific region.
Pyongyang insists that it needs its nuclear arsenal to deter against a possible U.S. invasion.
Kim Jong Un declared in December an end to moratoriums on nuclear and ballistic missile tests, and Pyongyang has repeatedly said it has no intention to continue talks unless Washington drops what it describes as "hostile” policies towards the North.
Reports on Friday said Japan may still build Aegis Ashore missile defense systems to purportedly defend against attacks by North Korea and other regional rivals, including China.
Japan’s defense minister, Taro Kono, last month cancelled plans to build two Aegis Ashore sites, citing cost and concerns that falling booster stages from the interceptor missiles could drop on local residents.
Japan, however, has not cancelled the $1 billion contract for the defense system’s radars, built by Lockheed Martin, and is mulling a technical assessment from the U.S. government that makes recommendations on using other sites that would eliminate the safety issues, a source told Reuters just weeks after reports that the proposal had been killed.
Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump first met in Singapore two years ago but talks over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal have been stalled since their Hanoi summit collapsed in early 2019 over what the North would be willing to give up in exchange for sanctions relief.
Trump said this week he would "certainly” meet with Kim again "if I thought it was going to be helpful”, after speculation that he might pursue another summit if it could help his re-election chances in November.
But in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo Jong -- who has emerged as one of her brother’s closest advisers -- said: "There is no need for us to sit across with the U.S. right now.”
If a summit was held, she said, "it is too obvious that it will only be used as boring boasting coming from someone’s pride”.
Denuclearization, she added, was "not possible at this point”, and could only happen alongside parallel "irreversible simultaneous major steps” by the other side -- which she emphasized did not refer to sanctions lifting.
She did not go into specifics, but Washington stations 28,500 troops in the South which North Korea regards as a threat, and has a range of military assets in Japan and the wider Pacific region.
Pyongyang insists that it needs its nuclear arsenal to deter against a possible U.S. invasion.
Kim Jong Un declared in December an end to moratoriums on nuclear and ballistic missile tests, and Pyongyang has repeatedly said it has no intention to continue talks unless Washington drops what it describes as "hostile” policies towards the North.
Reports on Friday said Japan may still build Aegis Ashore missile defense systems to purportedly defend against attacks by North Korea and other regional rivals, including China.
Japan’s defense minister, Taro Kono, last month cancelled plans to build two Aegis Ashore sites, citing cost and concerns that falling booster stages from the interceptor missiles could drop on local residents.
Japan, however, has not cancelled the $1 billion contract for the defense system’s radars, built by Lockheed Martin, and is mulling a technical assessment from the U.S. government that makes recommendations on using other sites that would eliminate the safety issues, a source told Reuters just weeks after reports that the proposal had been killed.