“Agreement” with the United States, “enemy” with its southern neighbor: North Korea’s new directions

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Pyongyang could “get along well” with the United States if it recognizes his country’s status as a nuclear power, state media reported Thursday after the ruling party congress closed.

If Washington “respects the current status (of nuclear power) of our country as stipulated in the Constitution (…) and abandons its hostile policy (…) there is no reason why we cannot get along well with the United States,” declared Kim Jong Un, according to the official KCNA agency.

During a tour of Asia last year, Donald Trump declared himself “100% open” to a meeting with Kim Jong Un. He even positioned himself against several decades of American policy by conceding that North Korea was “somewhat of a nuclear power”. But Pyongyang did not respond to Donald Trump’s proposal and has repeatedly said that North Korea will never give up its nuclear weapons.

During his previous party congress in 2021, Kim Jong Un designated the United States as his nation’s “greatest enemy”. His position thus seems to have softened.

South Korea, “the most hostile enemy”

The North Korean leader, on the other hand, inflicted a setback on neighboring South Korea, whose leader Lee Jae Myung has been campaigning since his inauguration in June for the resumption of bilateral dialogue. Kim Jong Un announced that Pyongyang will “forever” stop considering South Koreans as compatriots, calling Seoul’s recent conciliatory moves “misleading.”

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,” he said, according to the KCNA agency on Thursday.

Pyongyang produces enough nuclear material each year to assemble up to 20 atomic weapons, the South Korean presidency estimated in January. The 9th congress of North Korea’s Workers’ Party ended Wednesday with a grand military parade, KCNA reported.