Sister of North Korean leader rules out talks with U.S. on denuclearization

Published: 29 Jul. 2025, 19:13Updated: 29 Jul. 2025, 20:05

Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, attends a wreath laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam on March 2, 2019. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

 
Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, on Tuesday ruled out any discussion of denuclearization with the United States, calling it “an insult.”
 
Kim issued her statement on Tuesday, claiming that while the personal relationship between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump “is not bad,” connecting that relationship to the goal of denuclearization would be “nothing short of an insult” to Pyongyang.
 

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Kim Yo-jong reiterated what she called North Korea’s “irreversible status as a nuclear-armed state,” citing a fundamentally changed geopolitical landscape. 
 
She referred to North Korea and the United States as “two nuclear-armed states,” and urged Washington to adopt “a new way of thinking” and explore alternative approaches to engagement.
 
“If the United States clings to failed ideas of the past and refuses to accept today’s reality, any future meeting between the two sides will remain nothing more than an American wish," she said. 
 
Her comments suggest Pyongyang wants to shift away from unilateral nuclear disarmament toward mutual arms control negotiations, casting itself as a nuclear peer of the United States. 
 
She said that North Korea remains “open to all options” for defending its national status — an apparent signal that Pyongyang is open to talks, but only if denuclearization is taken off the agenda.
 
Experts warned that her statement reflects a hardened stance. 
 
“North Korea is making it clear that unless the United States fundamentally shifts policy to recognize its nuclear status, there will be no return to previous types of negotiations," said Lee Byong-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University.
 

A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 29 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspecting a nuclear material production base and the Nuclear Weapons Institute at an undisclosed location in North Korea. [EPA/YONHAP]

 
Hong Min, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, also said that "North Korea is unlikely to respond to behind-the-scenes contacts, and a public shift in the United States' position is what they’re looking for.”
 
The presidential office said on Tuesday morning that South Korea and the United States have "consistently remained open to dialogue with North Korea to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue and promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
 
“The government will continue efforts to restore inter-Korean trust and create conditions for the resumption of U.S.-North Korea talks in a stable peace environment," the presidential office said. 
 
The statement emphasized a dialogue with North Korea but avoided any reference to denuclearization, the very goal Kim Yo-jong rejected. That omission stood in contrast to responses from the United States and Japan.
 
In response to an inquiry from Reuters, the White House said President Trump remains open to speaking with Kim Jong-un to achieve "a fully denuclearized North Korea.”
 
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi also said at a regular briefing on Tuesday that Tokyo “will continue to seek the dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.”
 
Critics warned that Seoul’s failure to directly reaffirm the denuclearization principle could send the wrong message, especially as it is the country most directly threatened by North Korea’s nuclear arsenal.
 
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young drew additional scrutiny on Monday, echoing Kim Yo-jong’s criticism of the upcoming U.S.-South Korea joint military drills, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS). 
 

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young delivers his introductory remarks at a Cabinet meeting presided over by President Lee Jae Myung at the presidential office in central Seoul on July 29. [YONHAP]

 
Chung said he would propose an "adjustment of the exercises to President Lee Jae Myung." 
 
The presidential office later said it would also consider the views of the Defense Ministry, but the ministry clarified that no changes had been made to the current UFS schedule set for next month. 
 
Critics said North Korea could interpret the government’s mixed messaging as an opening to delay or cancel the drills.
 
Kim Yo-jong also said, “The year is 2025, not 2018 or 2019,” referencing the period when diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington had briefly flourished. Her remark suggested North Korea may be trying to recreate that momentum by again pushing for a suspension of joint military exercises.
 

The Korea Marine Corps 1st Division Tank Battalion and the U.S. Marine Corps 4th Regiment Reconnaissance Battalion conduct a joint exercise in Pohang, North Gyeongsang, on March 6. [YONHAP]

 
But this time, she raised the stakes, implying that North Korea would only return to talks if the objective shifts from denuclearization to arms control. 
 
Observers said that stance reflects Pyongyang’s growing confidence in its nuclear capabilities, bolstered by deeper ties with Russia and a more conciliatory tone from the South Korean government.
 
North Korea did not publish Kim Yo-jong’s latest remarks in its state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun, suggesting lingering sensitivity around the failure of the 2019 Hanoi summit, which ended without a deal and dented Kim Jong-un’s authority.


Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY PARK HYUN-JU [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]