North Korea could ‘get along’ with US, says Kim Jong Un

Kim Jong Un has declared his intent to expand North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and operational range – calling on the United States to respect his country’s nuclear power, in a rare message to Washington.

The United States and North Korea could “get along”, Kim added, but only if the US accepts that North Korea’s nuclear weapons are here to stay.

His comments, which were made at a five-yearly party congress held in the capital Pyongyang, are seen as leaving a door open to talks with US President Donald Trump ahead of Trump’s visit to China in April.

However, Kim dashes hopes of any diplomatic thaw with South Korea, calling them the North’s “most hostile entity”.

If Washington “respects our present [nuclear] position as stipulated in the Constitution… and withdraws its hostile policy… there is no reason why we cannot get along well with the United States,” Kim said at the Ninth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea, according to state media outlet KCNA.

The future state of US-North Korea relations “depends entirely on the US attitude”, Kim said.

“Whether it’s peaceful coexistence or permanent confrontation, we are ready for either, and the choice is not ours to make.”

He also addressed its neighbour South Korea, saying that it would “permanently exclude Seoul from the category of compatriots”, adding that “as long as South Korea cannot escape the geopolitical conditions of having a border with us, the only way to live safely is to give up everything related to us and leave us alone”.

One analyst told AFP that Pyongyang’s latest remarks signalled “an intention to pursue relations with the US independently, without going through South Korea.”

“The concept of ‘denuclearisation’ has already lost its meaning. We have become a nuclear state,” he told parliament in September. “I say ‘denuclearisation’ is the last, last thing to expect from us.”

“If the United States, freeing itself from its absurd pursuit of others’ denuclearisation and recognising the reality, wants genuine peaceful coexistence with us, there is no reason for us not to come face to face with it.”

Photos from the closing stages of this year’s party congress also showed Kim’s teenage daughter, Ju Ae, standing alongside her father in a matching black leather jacket at a military parade in Pyongyang.

Earlier this month South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Kim had selected Ju Ae – who is believed to be 13 – as his heir.

The National Intelligence Service said it would would keep close tabs on whether she attended the party congress.