Kim’s New Year warning for the US
North Korean leader ready to meet Trump again
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned the United States not to test his nation’s patience with sanctions and pressure.
During his televised New Year’s speech, Kim said he was ready to meet with US President Donald Trump at any time to produce an outcome “welcomed by the international community”. However, he said the North would be forced to take a different path if the US “continues to break its promises and misjudges the patience of our people by unilaterally demanding certain things and pushes ahead with sanctions and pressure”.
Kim also said the US should continue to halt its joint military exercises with ally South Korea and not deploy strategic military assets to the South.
He also made a nationalistic call urging for stronger inter-Korean co-operation and said the North was ready to resume operations at a jointly run factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong and restart South Korean tours to the North’s Diamond Mountain resort. Neither of those is possible for South Korea unless sanctions are removed.
Some analysts say North Korea has been trying to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul while putting the larger burden of action on the US. Pyongyang over the past months has accused Washington of failing to take corresponding measures following the North’s unilateral dismantlement of a nuclear testing ground and suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests.
Washington and Pyongyang are trying to arrange a second summit between Trump and Kim, who met in Singapore on June 12.
“If the United States takes sincere measures and corresponding action to our leading and pre-emptive efforts, then [US-North Korea]
relations will advance at a fast and excellent pace through the process of implementing [such] definite and groundbreaking measures,” Kim said.
Kim hailed the results of the North’s diplomatic activities in 2018, including his three meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae In. Kim said an inter-Korean military agreement reached in their last summit in September to reduce conventional military threats was “realistically a non-aggression declaration”.
Kim also emphasised the development of the North Korean economy and, without elaborating, mentioned nuclear power as part of the country’s plans to boost electricity production.
Kim’s speech was closely watched as North Korean leaders traditionally use New Year’s statements to reflect on the past year and issue major policy goals for the year ahead.
Kim used his New Year’s speech a year ago to start a newfound diplomatic approach with Seoul and Washington, which led to his meetings with Moon and Trump.
Kim also met three times with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which boosted his leverage by reintroducing Beijing — Pyongyang’s main ally — as a major player in the diplomatic process to resolve the nuclear standoff.
But nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled in recent months as they struggle with the sequencing of North Korea’s disarmament and the removal of US-led sanctions against the North. The North has also bristled at US demands to provide a detailed account of nuclear and missile facilities that would be inspected and dismantled under a potential deal.
The hardening stalemate has fuelled doubts on whether Kim will ever voluntarily relinquish the nuclear weapons and missiles he may see as his strongest guarantee of survival.