It seems that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un isn’t interested in reviving his relationship with Donald Trump this time.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Kim is unenthusiastic about reviving talks with the United States during Trump’s second term, expressing skepticism during a speech Thursday about what could actually be achieved.
“We have already explored every possible avenue in negotiating with the U.S.,” Kim reportedly said at a Pyongyang defense expo. He added that the U.S.’s “unchanging aggressive and hostile policy” toward North Korea is clear.
Kim also called the U.S. a superpower that prefers the use of force to coexistence, claiming that the previous negotiations during the Trump administration didn’t lead anywhere. Plus, the Journal reports that North Korea doesn’t have as big of a need for sanctions relief as it did during the Trump years, having expanded its nuclear arsenal and strengthened economic and military ties with Russia.
Today, Kim is just not that into Trump anymore. He doesn’t have much of a willingness to disarm and passed a law allowing the country to make preemptive nuclear strikes. Vladimir Putin is giving Kim things Trump cannot: military technology as well as diplomatic protection at the United Nations Security Council.
But Trump and Putin also have a disturbingly close relationship, meaning that there still may be a path open for the president-elect to pursue better relations with North Korea. Lest we forget, Trump’s talks with Kim during his first term started with “love letters” before falling apart and devolving into insults and threats. Trump still reminisces about those early days and, referring to Kim, said “I think he misses me” at the July Republican National Convention.
It doesn’t seem that Kim has the same fond memories as Trump, though, making new talks unlikely unless the president-elect convinces Putin to facilitate things and Kim comes around on the idea. But that seems implausible when the effort last time resulted in North Korea calling Trump a “dotard” and a “heedless and erratic man.”
