N. Korea: US Must Accept Changed Reality To Resume Talks

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) TOKYO, July 29 (KUNA) -- North Korea said Tuesday the US must accept the changed reality and recognize the North as a nuclear weapons state to hold future talks, state-media reported.
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, made the remarks in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"I do not want to deny the fact that the personal relationship between the head of our state and the present US president is not bad. However, if the personal relations between the top leaders of the DPRK and the US are to serve the purpose of denuclearization, it can be interpreted as nothing but a mockery of the other party," said Kim Yo-jong, also vice department director of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.
"If the US fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK-US meeting will remain as a "hope" of the US side," she said.
DPRK is the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
She said North Korea's nuclear "capabilities and the geopolitical environment have radically changed," warning that any attempt to deny the position of North Korea's position as a nuclear weapons state will be thoroughly rejected.
"We do not want to give any meaning to the US side's unilateral assessment of the past DPRK-US dialogue. It is worth taking into account the fact that the year 2025 is neither 2018 nor 2019," Kim Yo-jong said.
Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump met three times since June 2018, and agreed that Washington would provide security guarantees to North Korea in return for complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
However, the denuclearization talks were suspended after their no-deal summit in February 2019 in Hanoi.
The two leaders also met at the truce village of Panmunjeom in June 2019. (end)
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