North Korea: North Korea on Tuesday asked the US to accept its status as a nuclear weapons state before any new summit with President Donald Trump, state news agency KCNA reported. In a statement, Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader's sister and vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea, emphasized that North Korea's nuclear status is irreversible.
According to TRTworld.com, Kim Yo Jong stated that the recognition of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a nuclear weapons state, along with the acknowledgment of its changed capabilities and geopolitical environment, is necessary for any future considerations. "The recognition of the irreversible position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state and the hard fact that its capabilities and geopolitical environment have radically changed should be a prerequisite for predicting and thinking about everything in the future," she asserted.
In 2019, Trump made history by becoming the first sitting US president to step onto North Korean soil as part of negotiations concerning Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. This historic meeting took place in the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea.
Kim Yo Jong acknowledged the personal rapport between the North Korean leader and Trump but cautioned that such relationships are insignificant if the US continues to pursue denuclearization without adjusting to the current geopolitical realities. "If the US fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK-US meeting will remain a hope of the US side," she mentioned.