North Korea’s state media has shrugged off the remarks by former President Donald Trump claiming that he had good relations with leader Kim Jong Un. In response, North Korea said “we do not care” and also warned that its nuclear arsenal remains poised to take on any US president.
On Wednesday, in a commentary posted in its official Korean Central News Agency, it noted that though President Trump tried advancing personal relationships, Pyongyang viewed United States policy as persistently unfriendly saying the former president “did not bring about any substantial positive change.”
These are the first comments from North Korea since Trump boasted about his personal connections with Kim when he was speaking at the Republican National Convention last week. Trump said that he and Kim had gotten along well and hinted that maybe Kim wanted him back in office. “I think he misses me, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said.
According to KCNA commentary, personal relations must be kept apart from diplomacy. “Even if any administration takes office in the US, the political climate which is confused by infighting of two parties does not change and accordingly, we do not care about this,” the commentary stated.
Trump threatened to unleash “fire and fury” against Kim over testing nuclear bombs and missiles capable of reaching America in 2017; whereas KCNA referred to him as a “dotard” offering such names for his envoys as “gangsters.” However after they held their historic summit meeting in Singapore in 2018 all changed dramatically as North Korean officials described both leaders having a chemistry that is mysteriously wonderful.
The two signed an agreement of basic principles toward denuclearization at Singapore. Subsequently, Kim extended missile testing pause at one time when Bible thumping joint military exercises with South Korea talked out Pyongyang. But no concrete steps came from Kim towards winding down his arsenal. Instead, he continued adding to stockpile fissionable material while soon trying out a new line of modernized nuclear capable ballistic missiles immediately after Trump abruptly terminated a second meeting in Vietnam with Kim in 2019.
“North Korea is anxiously watching for the re-election of Trump,” said Ri Il Gyu, a former North Korean diplomat who defected to South Korea last November in an interview with Yonhap News. Ri also believes that his country’s Foreign Ministry would be considering negotiations if Trump returned to the White House and he suggested that his ex-colleagues will face “an uphill battle” trying to mend fences.
Since assuming power, Biden administration has been working towards enhancing security ties between its two major regional allies, Japan and South Korea; at the same time, it has been flexing its military muscle by displaying American might and warning Kim that if he dares use nuclear weapons against anybody or any nation it will mark the end of his reign in Pyongyang.
Kim has continued ignoring calls from Biden’s White House for him to return back to roundtable talks even as he further developed his stockpile of nuclear weapons. Additionally, Moscow had always supported economic development and armed forces progression of Kim Jong-un as part of the deal according which Russia received weaponries that were helping her conduct aggression against Ukraine, stated US officials including their allies.
Many political experts are now speculating on what impact President Joe Biden’s decision not to run for reelection will have on North Korea.
