In his New Year’s Day speech, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, said he was ready to meet with President Trump again, but warned against continued sanctions against his country.
TOKYO — Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, said Tuesday that he was willing to meet President Trump for another summit at any time, but made clear that if international sanctions against his country continued, the North would “have no choice” but to pursue a different path from the diplomatic gestures that have characterized the past 12 months.
“I am willing to meet the United States president at any time for the betterment of our international community,” Mr. Kim said in his New Year’s Day speech, broadcast on North Korea’s state-run television. “However, if the United States does not keep its promise in our international community and misinterprets our patience and intention and continues with the sanctions, then we have no choice for the sake of our national interest and peace of the Korean Peninsula to come up with new initiatives and new measures.”
Wearing a suit and tie and sitting in an overstuffed leather armchair in a book-lined room, Mr. Kim offered largely a motivational speech about the need to strengthen the North Korean economy. But he took the opportunity to reiterate a demand that South Korea cease all military drills with “other foreign sources.”
“Those should be completely stopped,” Mr. Kim said. “That is our stance.”
There were sparse direct references in the speech to denuclearization.
