North Korea can speak to U.S. if it stops insisting on denuclearisation, Kim says

North Korean chief Kim Jong Un mentioned there isn’t a purpose for the nation to keep away from dialogue with the U.S. if Washington stops insisting his nation surrender nuclear weapons, state information company KCNA reported on Monday (September 22, 2025).

In a speech on the Supreme People’s Assembly on Sunday (September 21), Mr. Kim mentioned he nonetheless has fond recollections of U.S. President Donald Trump, KCNA additionally reported. The two leaders met 3 times throughout Trump’s first presidency.

“If the United States drops the absurd obsession with denuclearising us and accepts reality, and wants genuine peaceful coexistence, there is no reason for us not to sit down with the United States,” Mr. Kim was quoted as saying.

It was a matter of survival for the nation to construct nuclear weapons to safeguard its safety within the face of grave threats from the United States and South Korea, Kim mentioned.

He mentioned he rejected current overtures from Washington and Seoul for dialogue as insincere as a result of their elementary intent to weaken the North and destroy his regime stays unchanged.

He mentioned a proposal by the South on ending the North’s nuclear programmes in phases was proof of that.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has made peace overtures since taking workplace in June, saying dialogue with Pyongyang was obligatory, and has proposed steps to construct confidence and finally finish the North’s nuclear programme.

Mr. Lee advised Reuters in an interview that there are formidable obstacles to reopening dialogue with the North, however he nonetheless believed the phased strategy on dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programme was the practical choice.

It was essential to create the proper circumstances to deliver the North again to the desk, and Trump has a key position to play in these efforts, Mr. Lee mentioned.