Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said she has “no idea” whether her brother has communicated with US President Donald Trump, as the president claimed this week.
Kim, a senior North Korean official, acknowledged that his brother had a “great relationship” with Trump and “personally has good memories and feelings” towards him. However, in a statement published in state media on Wednesday, she stopped short of confirming Trump’s claims that she had been in contact recently.
President Trump told reporters on Monday that Kim Jong Un had responded to his request for dialogue, shortly after the president called for a reduction in joint military exercises with South Korea, a longtime close ally of the United States. Trump did not elaborate on the contact. He added on Wednesday that he intended to meet with Kim later this year, but did not elaborate or say whether he had exchanged letters with the North Korean leader.
In a statement, Kim Yo Jong said of the reported “communications” between Trump and her brother: “I have no knowledge whatsoever, and this may be the only thing I don’t know about the foreign policy of our highest leadership.”
Joint military exercises have long irritated North Korea, and Kim Yo Jong said curtailing them would not change their “provocative and aggressive nature,” despite the United States and South Korea often emphasizing their defensive nature. Kim added that the reduction in the exercise should not be seen as a “good-faith move.”
The annual joint exercise is normally scheduled to last 10 days, but this year it will last only five days at the request of Washington. These are designed to adapt to North Korea’s evolving capabilities and incorporate training to counter drones, GPS jamming and cyber attacks, Reuters reported last week, citing a joint statement.
In calling for a reduction in these exercises, President Trump cited the United States’ good relationship with longtime adversary Kim Jong Un and South Korea’s lack of support for the Iran war.
“I get along with him,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “So, you know what? The fact that I get along with him is a good thing.”
President Trump met with Chairman Kim three times during his first term to discuss denuclearization, but those talks ultimately failed, and North Korea’s nuclear weapons program has only expanded since then.
President Trump took similar steps during his first term to curtail joint operations with South Korea. In March 2019, the two countries announced that their annual large-scale military exercises would be restructured and take on a scaled-down format.
