North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended a rare party congress with a message for the United States, saying that his country could “get along” with Washington if President Donald Trump’s administration would respect Pyongyang’s status as a nuclear power.
However, Kim shut the door firmly on South Korea, saying his country remains “most hostile” towards the enemy, reported state media on Thursday (Feb 26).
What did Kim Jong Un say?
According to state media reports, Kim said there was “no reason” North Korea and the United States could not “get along” if Washington recognises Pyongyang’s status as a nuclear-armed state and abandons what he called its hostile policy. If Washington “respects our country’s current status as stipulated in the Constitution… and withdraws its hostile policy… there is no reason why we cannot get along well with the United States”, said the Pyongyang leader.
The comment comes as speculation builds that Trump could seek a meeting with Kim during a visit to China in April.
Trump-Kim to meet?
While a meeting has not been confirmed, Trump has earlier signalled he would “100 per cent” be open to talks with North Korea. He has even described North Korea as “sort of a nuclear power,” language that breaks with years of US policy. A fresh meeting would mark a dramatic turn after diplomacy stalled following the failed 2019 summit in Hanoi, where a deal for sanctions relief in exchange for denuclearisation proved impossible to reach.
What did Kim Jong Un say about South Korea?
While expressing flexibility with the United States, Kim was blunt about South Korea. He declared that Pyongyang would “permanently exclude” Seoul as one of his nation’s “compatriots” and called it the North’s “most hostile” enemy. He insisted that North Korea had “absolutely no business dealing with South Korea, its most hostile entity”. Recent gestures from the South, he said, were “deceptive”.
The rhetoric follows a 2024 constitutional revision that formally labelled South Korea a “hostile state,” a significant shift from decades of language about eventual reunification.