SEOUL - North Korea rebuffed President Trump's apparent bid to reengage with Pyongyang diplomatically this week, issuing rhetorical salvos aimed at Trump's last-minute orders to shorten U.S.- South Korea joint military exercises. To reinforce its point, the North followed up later in the day with a barrage of about a dozen short-range ballistic missiles launched from around the capital Pyongyang eastward toward the sea, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. The U.S. and South Korean militaries wrapped up their annual drills six days earlier than initially scheduled on Friday in a conciliatory gesture toward North Korea, though the North suggested the step isn't enough to convince it to return to talks.
In a statement carried by state media, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister Kim Yo Jong said Pyongyang regards the scaling back of the annual exercises as "unworthy of comment," nor does it change, she added, the drills' "provocative and offensive" nature. President Trump posted on social media on Monday that he had ordered the drills shortened because he thinks they are costly and send a hostile message to North Korea. He later said that he has reached out to Kim for a meeting and received a positive response.
Kim Yo Jong, however, dismissed what appeared to be Trump's latest overture. Responding to Trump's claim that he had been in contact with her brother, Kim said, "I am not aware of it at all." But she acknowledged that while U.S. policies towards North Korea remain hostile, "the relationship between the two leaders is still excellent." The implication of Kim's sister's message is that she is "raising the price of re-engagement, rather than closing the door to a summit" between Trump and her brother, says Kuyoun Chung, a political scientist at Kangwon National University. Since Trump's return to the White House last year, Pyongyang has repeatedly demanded recognition of its nuclear power status as a condition for resuming diplomacy.
Washington has so far been unwilling to do so, because it would negate its long-standing policy of seeking the North's denuclearization, as well as U.N. Security Council resolutions. As North Korea's nuclear programs have advanced, pressure on them to denuclearize has weakened.
Seoul's policy is shifting from demanding denuclearization to seeking arms control, and calls in Washington for a similar approach have gained traction. While Kim may see little point in meeting Trump, "it is entirely possible, in my view, that there could be a pro forma meeting, in which the two sides shake hands, sit down, have a nice chat, agree to discuss again," and go home, says Joseph Yun, who stepped down as acting ambassador to South Korea last October. During the first Trump administration, South Korean mediation paved the way for three Trump-Kim summits in 2018 and 2019.
After the last summit failed to produce a deal, Kim bitterly accused Trump of playing him for an "idiot." That led to a landmark shift in North Korea's foreign policy, which has strengthened Kim's position. In 2023, North Korea formally abandoned the goal of reunifying with South Korea. Kim also signed a mutual defense pact with Russia, and revived ties with China, all but ruling out any role for South Korea as mediator.
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