AdvertisementAdvertisementEast AsiaA TV screen at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul shows a file image of North Korea's missile launch, Jul 19, 2023. (Photo: AP/Ahn Young-joon)29 Jul 2025 07:25AM (Updated: 29 Jul 2025 07:29AM) Bookmark Bookmark WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedInRead a summary of this article on FAST.Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try.Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FASTFAST SEOUL: North Korea said on Tuesday (Jul 29) the United States must accept that reality has changed since the countries' summit meetings in the past, and no future dialogue would end its nuclear programme, state media KCNA reported.Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un who is believed to speak for his brother, said she conceded that the personal relationship between Kim and US President Donald Trump "is not bad".But if Washington intended to use a personal relationship as a way to end the North's nuclear weapons programme, the effort would only be the subject of "mockery", Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by KCNA."If the US fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK-US meeting will remain as a 'hope' of the US side," she said. DPRK is short for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.North Korea's capabilities as a nuclear weapons state and the geopolitical environment have radically changed since Kim and Trump held talks three times during the US president's first term, she said."Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state ... will be thoroughly rejected," she said. US President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, Jun 30, 2019. (Photo: Retuers/Kevin Lamarque)Asked about the North Korean statement, a White House official said Trump was still committed to the goal he had for the three summit meetings he held with Kim in his first term."The president retains those objectives and remains open to engaging with Leader Kim to achieve a fully denuclearised North Korea," the White House official told Reuters.At their first meeting in Singapore in 2018, Trump and Kim signed an agreement in principle to make the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons. The subsequent summit in Hanoi next year broke down due to a disagreement over removing international sanctions that had been imposed against Pyongyang.Trump has said he has a "great relationship" with Kim, and the White House has said the president is receptive to the idea of communicating with the North Korean leader.Commentary: North Korea will never denuclearise, after Israel strikes on IranSource: Reuters/miNewsletterWeek in ReviewSubscribe to our Chief Editor’s Week in ReviewOur chief editor shares analysis and picks of the week's biggest news every Saturday.NewsletterMorning BriefSubscribe to CNA’s Morning BriefAn automated curation of our top stories to start your day.Sign up for our newslettersGet our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inboxSubscribe hereGet the CNA appStay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best storiesDownload hereGet WhatsApp alertsJoin our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat appJoin hereAlso worth readingContent is loading...Expand to read the full storyGet bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try.Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FASTFAST