Kim Jong-un's Sister Denies Reports of US Dialogue
Umar Farooq
Kim Yo-jong denied any knowledge of contacts between her brother and President Trump, reiterating US hostility. Trump claimed a good relationship with Kim and plans for a meeting, citing positive responses, while analysts note limited results from engagement.
Kim Yo-jong, the sister and senior official of North Korea, on August 20 dismissed reports that leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump have been in contact, emphasizing that the US continues to pursue a 'hostile' policy toward the country.
In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Yo-jong said: "Regarding the recent news from Washington about contact between the leaders of North Korea and the US, I know nothing about it at all. This may be the only issue in the foreign policy of the top leadership that I am not aware of."
The same day, President Trump claimed he has a good relationship with Kim and plans to meet the North Korean leader. Earlier, on August 19, Trump told reporters he had been in touch with Kim, who responded 'very positively' to his offer for dialogue.
The US president, who often praises his close relationship with the North Korean leader, made the remarks after being questioned by reporters whether his recent outreach to Kim and public dissatisfaction with South Korea have yielded any progress in dialogue.
"Kim Jong-un has always treated me with great respect. I understand him and he understands me," Trump said.
Trump also expressed frustration that South Korea refused to support the US in its military campaign against Iran. On August 17, he ordered the Pentagon to significantly reduce the scale of joint exercises with South Korea—a nation that hosts about 28,500 US troops, a legacy of the 1950-1953 war that ended with an armistice but no definitive conclusion to the conflict.
On August 18, Trump said: "US soldiers are in South Korea to protect you from Kim Jong-un, your neighbor, yet you don't help us in a very easy military operation in Iran. That's odd."
The US president also questioned the usefulness of other long-standing military alliances, including NATO—an organization he has pressured to support the Iran war effort and pay the US for protection. On August 18, he claimed he had persuaded South Korea to pay $3 billion a year during his first term and is planning to increase that amount.
"We have been paid and should have received even more. But we cannot go around defending all countries, especially when they don't help us," he said.
At the start of his first term in 2017, Trump threatened North Korea and reminded Kim that the US possesses far superior nuclear capabilities. In January 2018, he wrote on social media: "Someone from his depleted, food-starved regime should inform Kim that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is much bigger and more powerful than his."
Six months later, Trump and Kim met face-to-face in Singapore—the historic first meeting between leaders of the two countries, described as an agreement on 'complete denuclearization' of the Korean Peninsula. They met again in 2019, including a dramatic encounter at the inter-Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), where Trump became the first US president to step onto North Korean soil.
According to analysts, Trump's pursuit of a relationship with Kim has yielded little. North Korea has expanded its missile and nuclear capabilities, strengthened its alliance with Russia, and even dispatched tens of thousands of troops to fight alongside Moscow in the Ukraine war.
