SEOUL—North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared to rebuff the prospect of reviving his nuclear diplomacy with President-elect Donald Trump, according to his first public remarks about disarmament talks since the election.
North Korea’s state media reported Friday that the 40-year-old dictator called the U.S. a superpower that operated by force rather than a will to coexist and belittled the value that previous talks had for his cash-strapped regime.
“We have already explored every possible avenue in negotiating with the U.S.,” Kim was quoted as saying during a speech at a defense expo in the capital Pyongyang on Thursday. What has become clear, he added, is the U.S.’s “unchanging aggressive and hostile policy” toward North Korea.
Managing the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear program will be one of Trump’s major foreign-policy challenges during his second term. But since Trump left office in 2021, Pyongyang has strengthened its leverage. The regime has expanded its nuclear arsenal, warded off economic collapse from Covid-19 and deepened military and economic ties with Moscow, including deploying troops for Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Kim has fewer reasons to seek sanctions relief from the U.S. and has repeatedly played down the need for disarmament talks. He has grown more unwilling to disarm, rewrote his country’s nuclear doctrine to allow pre-emptive strikes and vowed to pursue a limitless expansion of North Korea’s weapons.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is also providing Kim with things that the U.S. can’t, from diplomatic cover at the United Nations Security Council to sensitive military technology.
This sets the stage for a different Kim-Trump dynamic from their first go-round. The two met face-to-face on three occasions during Trump’s first term in Singapore, Vietnam and the Korean Demilitarized Zone. They also exchanged a series of “beautiful” and “excellent” letters, as the two leaders called them. At one 2019 rally, Trump even remarked: “We fell in love.”
On the campaign trail this year, Trump suggested he could better control North Korea’s outbursts if he returned to the Oval Office. “I think he misses me,” Trump said of Kim, at July’s Republican National Convention.
“Trump may think love letters are enough, but for the past five years Kim has shown he’s determined not to lose face again,” said Hwang Ji-hwan, a professor of international relations at the University of Seoul.
Trump’s cabinet nominees signal a tough stance on Pyongyang. Sen. Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, has previously compared North Korea to a “criminal syndicate that controls territory.” Rep. Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice for White House national security adviser, has called growing ties between North Korea, China and Russia an “unholy alliance.”
During his speech Thursday, Kim accused the U.S. of sowing chaos around the world through “unscrupulous tactics” that aim to retain America’s sphere of interest globally. “We are currently witnessing the most chaotic and violent world since World War II,” Kim was quoted as saying.
Kim also vowed to accelerate production of nuclear and conventional weapons systems. The defense expo displayed Kim’s high-priority weaponry, including a satellite launch vehicle, its newest intercontinental ballistic missile, the “Hwasong-19,” and new suicide-attack drones that were recently showcased at a fiery exhibition.
But North Korea also showed off its lineup of short-range missiles and 240 mm multiple rocket launch systems—weaponry that has been provided to Russia for the war with Ukraine. In exchange, Moscow is believed to be providing Pyongyang with anti-air missiles and equipment for air-defense systems, in addition to cash payments to soldiers, South Korea’s presidential office said on Friday.
In recent weeks, North Korea has deployed more than 11,000 soldiers to fight alongside the Russians, with some already engaged in combat, the U.S. said. A senior North Korean general was recently wounded in a Ukrainian strike on Russia’s Kursk region, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Delivering his remarks at the defense expo allowed Kim to flaunt North Korea’s nuclear capabilities and send the incoming Trump administration a message to steer away from a pressure campaign, said Hong Min, a senior researcher at Korea Institute for National Unification, a state-funded think tank in Seoul.
“North Korea is requesting a change in attitude from the incoming Trump administration in order to make dialogue possible again,” Hong said.
By Dasl Yoon
dasl.yoon@wsj.com
Write to Timothy W. Martin at Timothy.Martin@wsj.com
