Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said Wednesday that she was unaware of any recent communication between Kim and US President Donald Trump. The senior Workers' Party official cast doubt on Trump's claim that the North Korean leader had responded to his overture for dialogue, while maintaining a measured tone toward the prospect of renewed engagement.
In a Korean-language statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday evening, Kim Yo-jong also dismissed Trump's directive to scale back South Korea-US military exercises, arguing that reducing their size or duration does not alter what Pyongyang considers their hostile nature.
"If the US side calculates that it can portray the measures it has recently taken as some kind of 'goodwill gesture,' it will not get the response it wants," Kim said.
"As for reports coming out of Washington that there has recently been communication between the leaders of North Korea and the United States, I know absolutely nothing about it, and it would probably be the only matter related to our supreme leadership's foreign policy of which I am unaware."
The carefully worded statement appeared to challenge Trump's recent assertion that Kim had responded to his overture for dialogue, although Kim Yo-jong did not categorically deny that contact had occurred.
Trump had earlier told reporters at the White House that Kim had responded to his outreach for dialogue. When a reporter asked why Kim had not responded to his request for talks, Trump replied, “How do you know he hasn’t responded?” Asked whether Kim had in fact responded, Trump said, “Yeah, he has.” He later described the state of their interactions as “very positive,” but did not elaborate on when or how the two sides had communicated.
Kim Yo-jong's statement also came after Trump said in a Truth Social post over the weekend that he had ordered the US military to “substantially reduce” combined exercises with South Korea, citing their cost, what he called the “totally inappropriate and hostile” signal they send to Pyongyang and his “very good relationship” with the North Korean leader.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Trump is pushing his aides to arrange another in-person meeting with Kim as early as this fall, potentially during his expected trip to China in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen.
Kim Yo-jong, meanwhile, made a point of preserving a distinction between Trump's personal relationship with her brother and Washington's broader policy toward Pyongyang. She nevertheless stressed that Kim Jong-un continues to have positive personal memories and feelings toward Trump, adding that the relationship between the two leaders remains strong.
The remarks suggest Pyongyang continues to see potential value in the personal rapport between Trump and Kim even as it rejects Washington's attempts to portray recent adjustments to military exercises as a conciliatory step.
Yu Ji-hoon, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said the distinction appeared deliberate.
"While distancing herself from reports of recent communication between the two leaders, Kim Yo-jong deliberately emphasized that the personal relationship between Kim Jong-un and Trump remains good," Yu said.
"This could be interpreted as an attempt to distinguish Trump personally from broader US policy toward North Korea while preserving the possibility of leader-level diplomacy."
However, Kim Yo-jong made clear that Pyongyang attaches little significance to Trump's decision to scale back the exercises, arguing that a reduction in their size or duration does not amount to a meaningful change in what North Korea views as Washington's hostile military policy.
She said Pyongyang was paying greater attention to the fact that South Korea-US joint exercises had continued throughout the year and remained underway, portraying them as evidence of continuing US hostility.
She argued that reducing the scale or duration of exercises does not change their provocative and offensive nature, citing a series of allied drills conducted this year, including Freedom Shield and Freedom Flag.
She also singled out Seoul's pursuit of nuclear-powered submarines, accusing South Korea of revealing what she described as its "hostile nature" by simultaneously defending the exercises and seeking to strengthen its military capabilities.
Kim Yo-jong's statement on Wednesday also extended well beyond the immediate question of Trump and the allied exercises, laying out Pyongyang's positions on the war in Ukraine, its alliance with Russia and Japan's military buildup.
She rejected Ukrainian claims that North Korea was preparing to send additional troops to Russia as "entirely groundless," while reiterating Pyongyang's support for Moscow and describing North Korea's obligations under its comprehensive strategic partnership treaty with Russia in explicitly allied terms.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com