North Korean Diplomat Banks Possibility Of Returning To Personal Diplomacy With The US

JAKARTA - North Korea on Monday seems to have dismissed the possibility of the return of the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, to Donald Trump, regardless of whoever won the United States presidential election next month.

"Anyone who serves in the US, we will only deal with a state entity called the US, not just a government," Pyongyang's ambassador to the United Nations Song Kim said on the sidelines of the UN annual General Assembly in New York, United States. October 1.

"Similarly, any US government must face the DPRK, which is different from what the US used to think," he said, referring to North Korea with its initials.

Earlier, a senior North Korean diplomat who defected to South Korea recently told Reuters North Korea wanted to reopen nuclear negotiations with the United States if Trump was re-elected and was working on formulating a new negotiation strategy.

Trump was involved in a tactic full of unprecedented risks and diplomacy with North Korea while serving as President of the United States.

Diplomat who defected, Ri Il-gyu said Pyongyang diplomats were mapping the strategy if the American people chose Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris, with the aim of lifting sanctions on his weapons program, revoking him as a sponsor of terrorism and obtaining economic assistance.

The summit between North Korean leaders Kim Jong-un and Trump in Vietnam in 2019 failed due to sanctions and a firm US call for North Korea to hand over its nuclear weapons.

Pyongyang itself has ignored calls from President Joe Biden's administration to be re-engaged in negotiations.

In a presidential election debate in June, Trump said Xi Jinping of China, Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin of Russia "disrespectful" Biden, pushing the country "into the Third World War."

At a press conference in August, Trump said Kim Jong Un "very much likes me."

"He doesn't like this group," Trump added, referring to the Biden-Harris administration.

"We are in great danger. We are in great danger of being involved in the Third World War," he said.

Song Kim said the US hostility and nuclear threat it has posed to North Korea for more than 70 years had forced Pyongyang to acquire nuclear weapons.

He said Kim Jong-un once said, "we can choose dialogue or confrontation, but we must go further in fully preparing for confrontation."