Kim Jong-un prêt à « bien s'entendre» avec les États-Unis si la Corée du Nord est reconnue puissance nucléaire
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Pyongyang could "get along well" with the United States if they recognized his country's nuclear power status, state media reported Thursday, February 26.
At the previous congress in 2021, Kim Jong Un designated the United States as his nation's "greatest enemy." US President Donald Trump has recently been more conciliatory toward the leader, whose stance appears to have softened.
If Washington "respects our country's current [nuclear power] status as stipulated in the Constitution [...] and abandons its hostile policy [...] there is no reason why we cannot get along well with the United States," Kim Jong-un said, according to the official KCNA news agency.
During a trip to Asia last year, Donald Trump declared himself "100% open" to a meeting with Kim Jong Un. He even went against decades of American policy by conceding that North Korea was "sort of a nuclear power." Speculation is mounting about the possibility of a meeting with Kim Jong Un on the sidelines of Donald Trump's planned visit to China, announced for April. During his first term, Donald Trump spoke with Kim Jong Un three times in an attempt to reach a denuclearization agreement, without success.
Pyongyang rejects Seoul's overtures
This time, it was neighboring South Korea that Mr. Kim reserved the title of "most hostile enemy." At the conclusion of the 9th Congress of the Workers' Party, which ended Wednesday evening with a grand military parade according to KCNA, Kim Jong Un rejected offers from Seoul, a security ally of Washington. North Korea "has absolutely nothing to do with South Korea, its most hostile enemy, and will forever exclude South Korea from the category of compatriots," Kim Jong-un declared, according to the KCNA news agency on Thursday.
Since his inauguration in June, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has been working to resume bilateral dialogue, which has so far gone unanswered by the North. In January, Pyongyang announced it had shot down a drone launched from the South near the city of Kaesong, a few kilometers from the heavily militarized border with South Korea, and demanded an explanation from Seoul. President Lee Jae-myung condemned the overflight, emphasizing that such actions could trigger a war between the two countries, which have not officially signed a peace treaty following the 1950-1953 conflict.
North Korea, a nuclear-armed nation, is subject to multiple rounds of sanctions due to its weapons programs. Pyongyang even produces enough nuclear material each year to assemble up to 20 nuclear weapons, the South Korean presidency estimated in January. South Korean diplomatic sources told AFP in January that the UN Security Council's North Korea Sanctions Committee was preparing to grant sanctions exemptions to humanitarian aid projects in the country. Analysts commented that this move would allow Washington and Seoul to eliminate the pretext Pyongyang has used to refuse dialogue until now.
Pyongyang amended its constitution in 2024 to define South Korea as a "hostile state" for the first time.
The ruling party congress, held in principle every five years, began on February 19. It is the most important political event in North Korea, designed to strengthen the regime's authority. Kim Jong-un was unanimously re-elected on Sunday to the top post of General Secretary of the Party, which has led the communist country since the 1940s. According to the official news agency, high-ranking military officers took an oath of loyalty to him at the congress.
The influential Kim Yo Jong, sister of the North Korean leader, was promoted by the Party at this five-year congress, becoming a full-fledged department director, and no longer a deputy director.
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