North Korean President Kim Jong Un received birthday greetings from U.S. President Donald Trump, state news agency KCNA reported on Saturday.
Kim Kye Gwan, an adviser to the North Korean Foreign Ministry, said in the statement that Kim could personally like Trump, but would not lead his country on the basis of personal feelings.
“Although Chairman Kim Jong Un has good personal feelings about President Trump, they are, in the true sense of the word, `personal’.
“We have been deceived by the United States, being caught in the dialogue with it for over one year and a half, and that was the lost time for us.
“North Korea will not discuss proposals such as those Trump made at his last summit with Kim Jong Un in Hanoi in February 2019,’’ the foreign ministry adviser said.
According to him, the North will not give up its nuclear facilities for partial sanctions relief, and will only return to talks when the U.S. makes concessions.
“The reopening of dialogue between the DPRK and the U.S. may be possible only under the condition of the latter’s absolute agreement on the issues raised by the former, but we know well that the U.S. is neither ready nor able to do so,” he said.
Reuters reports that Mason Richey, a professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, said the comments show how ties between leaders are sometimes only marginally useful for diplomacy.
“At least one member of the U.S.-North Korea diplomatic `bromance’ is mature enough to admit that personal feelings are just that.
“Kim Kye Gwan’s statement doesn’t close the door on diplomacy any more than it already was,” Richey added.
