On the campaign trail over the summer, Donald Trump claimed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “misses me,” and that relations between their two countries would improve with a second Trump term.
At a defense expo in Pyongyang this week, the North Korean dictator had a very different message.
“We have already explored every possible avenue in negotiating with the U.S.,” Kim said, according to state media, accusing the U.S. of an “unchanging aggressive and hostile policy” toward the country that’s helped put international affairs into their “most chaotic and violent” state since World War II.
Throughout 2024, North Korea has been signalling a wariness to engage with the U.S.
After Trump’s comments about Kim in July, a state news agency said, “No matter what administration takes office in the US, the political climate, which is confused by the infighting of the two parties, does not change and, accordingly, we do not care about this.”
The back-and-forth comes as relations between the U.S. and North Korea continue to deteriorate, despite Trump’s multiple face-to-face meetings with Kim during his first term.
The U.S. has continued high-profile military drills in the Pacific with North Korea’s rival and neighbor South Korea, while North Korea has continued expanding its nuclear arsenal, and has sent troops and weapons to support the Russians in their war against U.S. ally Ukraine.
“Trump may think love letters are enough, but for the past five years Kim has shown he’s determined not to lose face again,” Hwang Ji-hwan, a professor of international relations at the University of Seoul, toldThe Wall Street Journal of the regime’s recent statements.
During Trump’s first term, he alternated between chest-beating bluster and diplomacy with the North Korean leader.
Early on, Trump mocked Kim as “Little Rocket Man” and threatened to unleash “fire and fury” after a North Korean nuclear test, prompting the North Koreans to brand Trump a “dotard” served by “gangsters.”
Between 2018 and 2019, the pair met three times — in Singapore, Hanoi, and at the Korean Dimilitarized Zone — but failed to secure a potential agreement on denuclearization and sanctions relief.
Since then, Russia and North Korea have continued to deepen their military and diplomatic relationship. Pyongyang has sent thousands of North Korean troops to help Russia in its stalled invasion of Ukraine, while Russian president Vladimir Putin has sent gifts including dozens of rare animals to the dictatorial regime.
