Kim Jong Un said he was open to talks with U.S. president Donald Trump on the condition that Washington drops its demand for denuclearisation of the reclusive east Asian country.
The North Korean leader was addressing the country's rubber-stamp parliament on Sunday, when he said there was “no reason” for the sides not to hold talks if Washington abandons its "obsession with denuclearisation”, state media KCNA reported.
"Personally, I still have fond memories of US president [Donald] Trump," Mr Kim said, publicly naming the US president for the first time since he was elected to the Oval Office in January.
"If the United States drops the absurd obsession with denuclearising us and accepts reality, and wants genuine peaceful coexistence, there is no reason for us not to sit down with the United States," Mr Kim added.
Mr Kim's comments come as the new liberal government in South Korea urged Mr Trump to take the lead in reopening dialogue with the North Korean dictator, six years after all peace talks with Pyongyang collapsed in Hanoi in 2019 over sanctions and nuclear dismantlement.
The two leaders met three times during Mr Trump's first presidency.
Mr Kim's warm words towards Mr Trump were a contrast with his strident assertion that he will never give up nuclear weapons or engage in dialogue with South Korea, which he has designated a “main enemy”. Pyongyang declared itself a nuclear power in 2022.
South Korea's president, Lee Jae Myung, told Reuters that the North was building 15 to 20 nuclear bombs a year. He added that any deal between Mr Kim and Mr Trump that froze manufacturing would be a useful step towards eventually dismantling the programme altogether.
"Based on that, we can proceed to medium-term negotiations for nuclear weapons reductions, and in the long run, once mutual trust is restored and North Korea's regime-security concerns are reduced, we can pursue denuclearisation," he said.
Mr Lee told the BBC that he thought it possible that Mr Kim and Mr Trump could come back together, given they "seem to have a degree of mutual trust". This could benefit South Korea and contribute to global peace and security, the South Korean leader said.
However, Mr Kim has bluntly rejected any phased plan, saying recent overtures from Washington and Seoul for dialogue were disingenuous because their fundamental intent to weaken the North and destroy his regime remained unchanged, and that Mr Lee's phased plan was proof of that.
"The world already knows full well what the United States does after it makes a country give up its nuclear weapons and disarms," Mr Kim said. "We will never give up our nuclear weapons."
North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions and arms embargoes since its first nuclear test in 2006. But while the sanctions have squeezed funding for military development, Pyongyang has continued to make advances in building nuclear weapons and powerful ballistic missiles.
"The reality is that the previous approach of sanctions and pressure has not solved the problem; it has worsened it," Mr Lee added.
Earlier this month, Chinese president Xi Jinping hosted Mr Kim alongside Russia’s Vladimir Putin during Beijing’s largest military parade, which marked the 80th anniversary of World War Two. Unlike in past meetings, China did not publicly mention the North's nuclear weapons.
Mr Lee said the deepening relationship between Beijing, Moscow and Pyongyang, has put South Korea in "a very difficult situation".
"Seeing China, Russia and North Korea become so close is clearly not desirable for us," he said.
The North Korean leader claimed that he had "no reason to sit down with South Korea", even as Mr Lee has sought to ease tensions with the North since his election to office.
"We make it clear that we will not deal with them in any form," Mr Kim added.
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