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Kim suspended virtually all cooperation with the South following the in 2019 over disagreements about U.S.-led sanctions against the North. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have worsened in recent years as Kim has accelerated his weapons buildup and aligned with Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Kim鈥檚 comments came as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung departed for New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly, where he is expected to address nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula and call on North Korea to return to talks.

Trump is also expected to visit South Korea next month to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, prompting media speculation that he may try to meet Kim at the inter-Korean border, as they did during their third meeting in 2019, which ultimately failed to salvage their nuclear diplomacy.

During his latest speech at the Supreme People鈥檚 Assembly, Kim reiterated that he would never give up his nuclear weapons program, which experts say he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival and the extension of his family鈥檚 dynastic rule.

鈥淭he world already knows well what the United States does after forcing other countries to give up their nuclear weapons and disarm,鈥� Kim said. 鈥淲e will never lay down our nuclear weapons 鈥� There will be no negotiations, now or ever, about trading anything with hostile countries in exchange for lifting sanctions.鈥�

He said he still holds 鈥済ood personal memories鈥� of Trump from their first meetings and that there is 鈥渘o reason not to鈥� resume talks with the United States if Washington 鈥渁bandons its delusional obsession with denuclearization.鈥�

Kim has stepped up testing activities in recent years, designed to strike U.S. allies in Asia and the U.S. mainland. Analysts say Kim鈥檚 nuclear push is aimed at eventually pressuring Washington to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and to negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength.

Kim is also trying to bolster his leverage by strengthening cooperation with traditional allies Russia and China, in an emerging partnership aimed at undercutting U.S. influence.

He has sent thousands of troops and huge supplies of military equipment to Russia to help support President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 war in Ukraine. He visited Beijing earlier this month, sharing the spotlight with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin at a . Experts say Kim鈥檚 rare foreign trip was likely intended to boost his leverage ahead of a potential resumption of talks with the United States.

There鈥檚 growing concern in Seoul that it could lose its voice in future efforts to defuse the nuclear standoff on the peninsula, as the North seeks to negotiate directly with the United States. Such fears were amplified last year when Kim declared that he was abandoning North Korea鈥檚 long-standing goal of peaceful unification with South Korea and ordered a rewriting of the North鈥檚 constitution to cement the South as a permanent enemy.