Kim Jong Un said that his nation might go along with US 

In a rare communication to Washington, Kim Jong Un has stated his intention to increase North Korea’s nuclear weapons and operational range and urged the US to respect his nation’s nuclear capability. Kim went on to say that North Korea and the US might “get along” provided the US acknowledged that North Korea’s nuclear weapons will always exist.

His remarks during a five-year party convention in Pyongyang’s capital are seen to have opened the door for negotiations with US President Donald Trump before Trump’s April visit to China. Kim, meanwhile, calls South Korea the North’s “most hostile entity,” shattering any expectations of a diplomatic breakthrough.

If Washington “respects our present [nuclear] position as stipulated in the Constitution… and withdraws its hostile policy… there is no reason why we cannot get along well with the United States,” Kim said at the Ninth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea, according to state media outlet KCNA.

The future state of US-North Korea relations “depends entirely on the US attitude”, Kim said.

“Whether it’s peaceful coexistence or permanent confrontation, we are ready for either, and the choice is not ours to make.”

He also addressed its neighbour South Korea, saying that it would “permanently exclude Seoul from the category of compatriots”, adding that “as long as South Korea cannot escape the geopolitical conditions of having a border with us, the only way to live safely is to give up everything related to us and leave us alone”.

One analyst told AFP that Pyongyang’s latest remarks signalled “an intention to pursue relations with the US independently, without going through South Korea.” Kim also highlighted Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, saying: “We will focus on projects to increase the number of nuclear weapons and expand nuclear operational means.”

This Monday, the state-run KCNA reported that North Korea “radically improved” its “war deterrence” “with the nuclear forces as its pivot” under Kim’s leadership. However, the regime’s secrecy makes it challenging to assess the true level of military advancement.  An independent think tank called the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) calculated last year that North Korea possessed about 50 constructed nuclear bombs and enough fissile material to make up to 40 more.

Additionally, in November 2024, Kim advocated for a “limitless” growth of the nation’s nuclear program.The denuclearization of North Korea was notably left out of US President Trump’s global security road map, which was unveiled last year.

The omission fueled rumors that Trump and Kim’s discussions, which were last held in 2019, would soon resume. During his first term in 2017, Trump declared North Korea a threat and a rogue state that could “use a nuclear weapon against the United States” sixteen times in his prior road map.  However, Kim has consistently maintained that Pyongyang is not thinking about denuclearization.

“The concept of ‘denuclearisation’ has already lost its meaning. We have become a nuclear state,” he told parliament in September. “I say ‘denuclearisation’ is the last, last thing to expect from us.”

“If the United States, freeing itself from its absurd pursuit of others’ denuclearisation and recognising the reality, wants genuine peaceful coexistence with us, there is no reason for us not to come face to face with it.”