The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said he hopes to continue denuclearisation talks with Donald Trump in 2019 but used his New Year’s address to warn that he could be forced to take a “new path” if the US persists with sanctions against his regime.
Wearing a dark suit and seated on a leather armchair in front of portraits of his predecessors – his father, Kim Jong-il, and grandfather Kim Il-sung – Kim said he was willing to meet the US president “at any time” to produce an outcome that would be “welcomed by the international community”.
But he added that North Korea would have “no option but to explore a new path in order to protect our sovereignty” if Washington “continues to break its promises and misjudges our patience by unilaterally demanding certain things and pushes ahead with sanctions and pressure”. He did not give details on what that “new path” might entail.
Kim and Trump signed a vaguely worded statement committing the North to “denuclearisation” during their first meeting in Singapore last June, but negotiations have since stalled over disagreements on the definition of denuclearisation and which side should be the first to make concessions.
Pyongyang has demanded that Washington lift sanctions and declare an official end to the 1950-53 Korean war, while the US has urged the regime to demonstrate its commitment to denuclearisation.
In Tuesday’s televised address, which was also broadcast live in South Korea for the first time, Kim called on South Korea to end its joint military drills with the US – which have largely been halted since his summit with Trump – and not deploy strategic military assets to the South.
Reflecting on a year of inter-Korean rapprochement during which he held three summits with the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, Kim said: “Now that North and South Korea decided on the path of peace and prosperity, we insist that joint military exercises with outside forces should no longer be allowed and deployment of war weapons such as outside strategic assets should be completely stopped.”
Harry Kazianis, director of defence studies at the Center for the National Interest in Washington, said Kim’s speech showed Pyongyang was “clearly willing to engage in dialogue while working towards denuclearisation with Washington and Seoul – but on its terms”.
