Kim Jong-un signals openness to U.S. talks while rejecting S. Korea as partner

Kim Jong Un delivers a speech at the Supreme People's Assembly in Pyongyang on September 21. KCNA/YONHAP

SEOUL, September 22 (AJP) - In a speech delivered at the Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang on Sunday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he could meet with the United States if Washington abandoned its insistence on denuclearization, while ruling out dialogue or unification with South Korea,

"I still personally have good memories of President Trump," Kim said, according to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 22. "If the United States casts off its obsession with denuclearization and seeks genuine peaceful coexistence on the basis of reality, then there is no reason why we cannot face them."

Kim paired that conditional outreach with a strong rejection of any negotiations on giving up nuclear arms. "The world already knows what happens after a country is disarmed and stripped of its nuclear deterrent. We will never lay down our weapons," he said, warning that North Korea's deterrence has a "second mission" of nuclear retaliation if its "first mission" of preventing war fails.

While signaling a potential path to U.S. dialogue, Kim dismissed South Korea altogether. He called the South a "U.S.-dependent colony" and declared that "reunification is unnecessary." He said, "We will never think of unifying with a country that entrusts its politics and defense to foreign powers." He also criticized President Lee Jae Myung's three-step denuclearization proposal as a "copy of predecessors' failed ideas," and indicated plans to codify in law that North and South Korea are "two different states."

Seoul responded with caution. Unification Ministry Spokesperson Koo Byung-sam stressed that South Korea has no intention of seeking an aggressive approach toward the North. "The government respects the North's system and will not pursue any form of absorption unification, nor does it intend to engage in hostile acts," Koo told reporters on Monday. He added that the administration would focus on easing tensions and rebuilding trust "with a long-term perspective," while supporting dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang aimed at stabilizing peace.

Koo declined to speculate on whether Kim's remarks could open the door to talks with the U.S. on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November, where President Donald Trump is expected to visit South Korea. "We will not make early predictions," he said.