NEW: North Korea Issues First Public Statement On Trump’s Return

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, shared the regime’s first public statement on the Trump Administration since President Donald Trump returned to office in January. Trump previously negotiated a historic summit between the U.S., South Korea and North Korea in 2018, and also became the first American president to cross into North Korean territory when he joined Kim Jong Un at the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ).

In remarks put out by the nation’s state media outlet, Jong said relations between the regime and President Trump were “not bad” but added that Pyongyang would view any attempts to get North Korea to denuclearize as “nothing but mockery.”

She further claimed that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal has greatly increased since Trump’s first term in office, adding that the regime would not agree to another summit if denuclearization talks were on the table. The North Korean dictator’s sister did not rule out bilateral talks entirely, however, as she did with South Korea in a separate statement, according to a report from Fox News.

“If the U.S. fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK- U.S. meeting will remain as a ‘hope’ of the U.S. side,” Kim Yo Jong said. She added that “it would be “advisable to seek another way of contact.”

Kim Yo Jong is a senior official on the Central Committee of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party and is largely seen as the point person on relations with the U.S. and South Korea.

Kim Yo-Jong sits for a meeting in 2018
Photo: Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation

Trump previously held three historic meetings with the North Korean government and Kim Jong Un after a tense back-and-forth for the first two years. In one of his most memorable social media posts, the president referred to his North Korean counterpart as “Rocket Man” and pushed back on the regime’s violent threats with threats of his own.

The first summit took place in Singapore in 2018, then Hanoi, Vietnam in 2019 and then finally the Korean Demilitarized Zone in 2019, where he became the first American President to set foot in North Korean territory by stepping across the DMZ line with the North Korean dictator.

None of the meetings achieved significant breakthroughs, however, as North Korea is still holding onto its nuclear arsenal, while the U.S. has held firm with crippling sanctions that have been placed on the Kim regime for decades.

Kim Yo Jong’s comments came in response to a Yonhap news agency article, which, citing an unnamed White House official, claims the Trump Administration “remains open to engaging with Leader Kim to achieve a fully denuclearized North Korea.” Trump has yet to issue a definitive statement on the issue, though he has pointed to his previous talks with the DPRK as a sign of progress.

“I was proud to become the first sitting President to cross this Demilitarized Zone into North Korea,” the president said in a statement commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the end of the Korean War on Monday.

He also stressed the importance of the long-running tight partnership between the United States and South Korea. “Although the evils of communism still persist in Asia, American and South Korean forces remain united in an ironclad alliance to this day,” he said.