North Korean leader recalls ‘good memories’ of Trump and urges U.S. to drop denuclearization demands

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says he still has good memories of President Donald Trump and urged Washington to drop its demand that the North surrender its nuclear weapons as a precondition for resuming long-stalled diplomacy.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says he still has good memories of President Donald Trump and urged Washington to drop its demand that the North surrender its nuclear weapons as a precondition for resuming long-stalled diplomacy.

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 U.S. 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 suspended virtually all cooperation with the South following the collapse of his second summit with Trump in 2019 over disagreements about U.S.-led sanctions against the North. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have worsened in recent years as Kim has accelerated his weapons buildup and aligned with Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Kim’s comments came as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung departed for New York to attend the U.N. 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.