Kim Suggests Talks Could Resume With US Under This Condition

US has to drop the 'delusional obsession with denuclearization'
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 22, 2025 12:00 AM CDT
Kim Says He Has 'Good Personal Memories' of Trump
This photo provided by the North Korean government, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during a parliament session at the Supreme People’s Assembly, which was held on Sept. 20-21, 2025 in Pyongyang, North Korea.   (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says he still has good memories of US President Trump and urged Washington to drop its demand the North surrender its nukes as a precondition for resuming long-stalled diplomacy, the AP reports. Speaking to Pyongyang's rubber-stamp parliament on Sunday, Kim stressed that he has no intention of ever resuming dialogue with rival South Korea, a key US ally that helped broker Kim's previous summits with Trump during the American president's first term, according to a speech published by state media on Monday.

Kim's comments came as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung departed for New York to attend the UN General Assembly, where he is expected to address nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula and call on North Korea to return to talks. Trump is also expected to visit South Korea next month to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, prompting media speculation that he may try to meet Kim at the inter-Korean border, as they did during their third meeting in 2019, which ultimately failed to salvage their nuclear diplomacy.

During his latest speech at the Supreme People's Assembly, Kim reiterated that he would never give up his nuclear weapons program, which experts say he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival and the extension of his family's dynastic rule. "The world already knows well what the United States does after forcing other countries to give up their nuclear weapons and disarm," Kim said. "We will never lay down our nuclear weapons … There will be no negotiations, now or ever, about trading anything with hostile countries in exchange for lifting sanctions." He said he still holds "good personal memories" of Trump from their first meetings and that there is "no reason not to" resume talks with the United States if Washington "abandons its delusional obsession with denuclearization."

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