Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un who appears to function as the hardline voice in the regime, said today that another summit between her brother and President Donald Trump is “unnecessary and useless” to the North unless there is a decisive change in the U.S. stance toward the North in their stalled denuclearization talks, she told KCNA, according to South daily, Korea Herald. But Kim, first vice-department director of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea, didn’t completely shut the doors closed, saying “we never know” what could unexpectedly happen, depending on the decision of the two countries’ leaders.
She also didn’t slam the door entirely on denuclearization. “We are not saying we will never denuclearize, but we are making it clear that we cannot do it now,” said Kim, emphasizing any denuclearization move by Pyongyang should correspond with U.S. “major steps,” but that U.S. corresponding action is not necessarily sanctions relief, she underlined. Kim said that the previous framework of sanctions relief in return for denuclearization between Pyongyang and Washington should be changed to “resumption of North Korea-U.S. talks for withdrawal of (U.S.) hostilities.”
