Kim Jong Un was one of the only foreign leaders who did not congratulate Joe Biden on winning the presidential election, but North Korea’s supreme leader has made several comments on his view of Biden as US president.
A few weeks before Biden’s inauguration, Kim spoke at a meeting of the Workers’ Party Congress in Pyongyang, calling the US his country’s “biggest enemy,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported according to Reuters.
“Our foreign policy activities must focus on subjugating the US, our biggest enemy and the biggest obstacle to our innovative development,” Kim told Reuters during the meeting. “No matter who is in power in the US, the true nature of the US and its fundamental policy towards North Korea will never change.”
Furthermore, KCNA reported that Kim said the ‘key to establishing new relationships between [North Korea] and the United States is questioning whether the United States is withdrawing its hostile policy ‘from North Korea, while adding that’ the reality is that we can achieve peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula if we continually build our national defense and the US suppressed military threats. “
According to Reuters, Kim also criticized South Korea for tackling ‘non-fundamental’ issues such as aid in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and noted that Seoul should stop doing military exercises and US military supplies. buy.
The South Korean Ministry of Unification issued a statement in response, saying “The inauguration of the new US government could be a good opportunity to improve US-North Korea relations.”
Kim had previously met with former President Donald Trump on three separate occasions, but their meetings did not end with a foreclosure agreement or improved relations with the two countries.
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Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor of North Korean studies at the Korean University of Seoul, told Reuters after Kim’s remarks: “North Korea declares that the window for cooperation for the Biden government is much, much smaller.”
In 2019, the news agency criticized KCNA Biden, calling him a ‘rabid dog’ and saying he was showing signs of ‘the final stage of dementia’.
Before Biden won the presidential election, Biden made exclusive remarks to South Korean news agency Yonhap in October, saying, “I will engage in principled diplomacy and continue to push for a discolored North Korea and” a united Korean peninsula while I am reuniting. Korean Americans have been separating from loved ones in North Korea for decades. ‘
During the final presidential debate, in October, Biden harshly criticized Kim, calling him a “thug” but remarking that he would meet with North Korea’s supreme leader “on condition that he agree to act. . its core capacity. ‘
Although Biden did not directly mention North Korea or Kim during his inaugural speech, he indicated a change in Trump’s “America First” ideal, saying, “We will restore our alliances and enter into dialogue with the world again. , not to face the challenges of yesterday, but of today and tomorrow. ‘
Antony Blinken, nominated by Biden’s foreign minister, also spoke at a Senate confirmation hearing on North Korea on Tuesday, saying: “I think we need to review the whole approach and policy towards North Korea, and we intend to review it. “
“Because it’s a hard problem that plagued the administration after administration. And it’s a problem that has not gotten better – in fact, it’s gotten worse,” Blinken added.
Newsweek issued the White House for comment, but did not receive a timely response for publication.