North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un speaks as he stands with U.S. President Donald Trump south of the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea, in the Joint Security Area of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized zone on June 30, 2019. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — North Korea’s state media rebuffed comments that former President Donald Trump made about good ties with leader Kim Jong Un, saying “we do not care” and warned its nuclear arsenal stands ready for any U.S. leader.
The official Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary Wednesday that while Trump tried to advance personal relations, Pyongyang saw U.S. policy as remaining hostile, adding the former president “did not bring about any substantial positive change.”
The comments are the first from North Korea since Trump touted his personal ties with Kim when he addressed the Republican National Convention last week. Trump said he got along with Kim, who probably wanted the former president back in the White House. “I think he misses me, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said.
The KCNA commentary said personal relations and diplomacy should be kept separate. “Even if any administration takes office in the U.S., the political climate, which is confused by the infighting of the two parties, does not change and, accordingly, we do not care about this,” the commentary said.
Trump pledged to unleash “fire and fury” against Kim for tests of nuclear bombs and missiles to deliver them to the U.S. in 2017, while KCNA called him a “dotard” and labeled his envoys as “gangsters.” But after the two held a historic summit in Singapore in 2018, the tone changed dramatically, with North Korean officials saying the two leaders had a “mysteriously wonderful” chemistry.
The two reached a bare-bones declaration for denuclearization in Singapore; Kim later briefly halted testing missiles and the U.S. scaled back joint military drills training with South Korea that angered Pyongyang. But Kim made no concrete moves to wind down his arsenal. Meanwhile, he kept adding to his stockpile of fissile material and began testing a new series of modernized, nuclear-capable ballistic missiles soon after Trump abruptly halted a second round of talks with Kim in Vietnam in 2019.
Since taking office, the Biden administration has worked to improve security ties between its two main allies in the region, Japan and South Korea, while making shows of American military might and warning Kim the use of nuclear weapons would mean the end of his rule in North Korea.
Kim has ignored calls from Biden’s White House to return to the bargaining table as he advanced his arsenal of nuclear weapons. Kim has also received support from his economy and military from Russia in exchange for munitions to help Moscow with its assault on Ukraine, the US and its allies have said.
North Korea has yet to make a comment on Biden’s decision not to seek reelection and has made no mention of Vice President Kamala Harris on its major state media outlets.
With assistance from Soo-Hyang Choi.
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