North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has delivered his most definitive message yet: the era of denuclearization talks is over, and Pyongyang’s status as a nuclear state is non-negotiable. In a series of speeches and state media reports over the weekend, Kim made it clear that his country will never relinquish its nuclear arsenal, rebuffing renewed diplomatic overtures from the United States and South Korea, and signaling a profound shift in the security landscape of Northeast Asia.
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim addressed the 13th Session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly on Sunday, September 21, 2025, delivering a lengthy speech that targeted both Washington and Seoul. “The concept of ‘denuclearization’ has already lost its meaning,” Kim declared, as reported by KCNA. He accused the United States and South Korea of destroying the foundation for negotiations by insisting on phased denuclearization, a demand he dismissed as both unrealistic and deeply mistrustful.
Kim’s remarks come just weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung met in the White House in late August 2025, exchanging what were described as positive views about restoring deadlocked nuclear talks with Pyongyang. Those hopes, however, seem to have been dashed by Kim’s latest pronouncements. The North Korean leader stated unequivocally, “We will never put down our nuclear weapons.” He further explained, “The world already knows well what the United States does after it forces a country to give up its weapons and disarm it.”
This hardening of North Korea’s position marks a stark departure from the brief period of diplomatic engagement between Kim and Trump in 2018 and 2019. The two leaders met three times, culminating in the ill-fated Hanoi summit in February 2019. According to Reuters, Trump demanded full and immediate denuclearization in exchange for full and immediate sanctions relief—a proposal Kim rejected as too risky for his regime’s survival. When Kim refused, Trump walked out, and the summit ended in failure. That moment, sources say, left Kim deeply mistrustful not only of the U.S. but also of South Korea, which had acted as a mediator in the talks.
Kim’s frustration with Seoul has only grown. He blamed South Korea more than the U.S. for the breakdown of the Hanoi summit and announced that North Korea would no longer negotiate with its southern neighbor. “We will not sit down with South Korea and will do nothing together with it,” Kim said in his recent speech. “I make clear that we will not deal with it in any way.” He went even further, declaring that North and South Korea are now “two heterogeneous states separated by a border that can never become one,” and that “unification is by no means necessary.”
These declarations formalize a policy shift that began in September 2023, when North Korea amended its constitution to enshrine the building of nuclear force as a central policy. Kim reiterated on September 22, 2025, that even the prospect of lifting devastating economic sanctions would not persuade him to consider denuclearization. “The sanctions imposed by hostile forces have given us a learning effect that made us stronger, and have cultivated endurance and resistance that will not be crushed by any pressure,” he said, echoing a sentiment he has repeated in recent years.
North Korea’s nuclear ambitions are not occurring in a vacuum. Kim has linked his country’s security to global developments, particularly the war in Ukraine. According to AFP and other sources, North Korea has become one of Russia’s key allies since Moscow invaded Ukraine three and a half years ago, sending thousands of troops and container loads of weapons to support the Kremlin. While the specifics of any quid pro quo remain unclear, analysts have speculated that Russia might transfer sensitive military technology to Pyongyang in exchange for its support. North Korea, for its part, is eager to develop its own spy satellite and other advanced capabilities.
Kim’s recent diplomatic forays have also raised eyebrows. His visit to Beijing marked his first participation in a multilateral diplomatic event, where he appeared alongside China’s President Xi Jinping. This appearance underscored North Korea’s growing alignment with China and Russia, forming what some analysts describe as a new Cold War dynamic in East Asia, pitting the Japan-South Korea-U.S. coalition against a China-North Korea-Russia bloc.
Despite his uncompromising rhetoric, Kim left a small window open for renewed dialogue with Washington—albeit on his own terms. “If the United States drops the absurd obsession with denuclearising us and accepts reality, and wants genuine peaceful coexistence, there is no reason for us not to sit down with the United States,” Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA. He added, “Personally, I still have fond memories of US President (Donald) Trump.”
However, Kim made it clear that any negotiations would not involve trading away his nuclear arsenal for sanctions relief. “There will never be, and will never ever be for eternity, any negotiations with enemies of exchanging some things out of some obsession with lifting sanctions,” he said. The message to Washington is blunt: recognition of North Korea as a nuclear-armed state is the prerequisite for any future talks.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who took office in June 2025, acknowledged the reality of North Korea’s nuclear program in an interview with Reuters. He said that sanctions have failed to deter the North, which is reportedly adding 15 to 20 nuclear weapons to its arsenal every year. “The reality is that the previous approach of sanctions and pressure has not solved the problem; it has worsened it,” Lee said. He has proposed a phased approach to dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program and believes that Trump has a key role to play in bringing Pyongyang back to the negotiating table. “It was necessary to create the right conditions to bring the North back to the table and Trump has a key role to play in those efforts,” Lee told Reuters.
Yet, given Kim’s categorical rejection of any talks with Seoul and his insistence on nuclear retention, the prospects for meaningful progress appear dim. Analysts cited by AFP note that Kim’s speech “reaffirms the North’s stance that recognition as a nuclear-armed state, along with a willingness to improve relations with it, are the prerequisites for dialogue.” Others point out that Kim’s lengthy justifications reflect both confidence and a desire to pre-empt domestic instability.
With Trump expected to visit South Korea next month for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Gyeongju, speculation is swirling over whether a surprise summit could be in the works. Some experts suggest that Kim’s timing is no accident, hinting at the possibility of renewed engagement with Trump while simultaneously playing to the former U.S. president’s well-known desire for a diplomatic legacy.
As the stalemate deepens, one thing is clear: North Korea’s nuclear status is now enshrined in both law and policy, and Kim Jong Un is determined to maintain it at any cost. The region, and the world, must now reckon with a nuclear North Korea that sees its arsenal as essential not just to regime survival, but to its very identity on the global stage.
