Comments by North Korea’s Kim Jong-un suggest bromance with Trump is over

Recent comments by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reported by Pyongyang’s state media on Friday suggest that the dictator takes a dim view of talks with Washington.

In a speech carried by the North’s state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim claimed that his regime “went to every length” in negotiations with the United States, but that talks only confirmed Washington’s “unchanging invasive and hostile policy” toward Pyongyang.

Kim’s remarks at the opening ceremony of an arms exhibition in the North Korean capital, which took place a day before the KCNA report, appeared to cast doubt on the idea that dialogue between the United States and North Korea could resume upon Trump’s return to the White House in January.

During his first term, Trump met Kim on three occasions, including two summits in Singapore and Hanoi in 2018 and 2019.

The collapse of their Hanoi summit without an agreement was followed by a rapid deterioration in inter-Korean relations and an escalation in missile testing by the North.

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly cited his past interactions with the North Korean leader as evidence that he could re-establish rapport between Washington and Pyongyang if he returned to office.

In his Thursday comments, Kim accused the United States of bolstering its military alliances to “extremes” with North Korea’s neighbors and around the world by rotating American strategic assets in the region.

Kim said these developments made the North “realize every day and every hour that achieving the most powerful military capabilities is the only way to maintain peace and provides a solid guarantee of security and development.”

The North Korean leader further vowed that his regime would never allow any lapses in its security nor allow the balance of military power to shift in favor of his enemies.

Kim also called on his regime to develop its military capabilities “more aggressively and without limits to correspond to the ever-evolving threats of enemy warfare methods.”

South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Koo Byoung-sam said Kim’s remarks essentially repeat Pyongyang’s earlier demands that Washington drop what the regime regards as “hostile policy” toward North Korea before any dialogue.

The KCNA report on the exhibition included descriptions of the regime’s most advanced arms, including strategic and tactical weapons.

The state news agency also released photos of intercontinental ballistic missiles, drones and multiple rocket launchers that the North displayed at weapons parades earlier this year.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]