North Korea's Kim recalls ‘good personal memories’ of Trump, calls for US to drop denuclearization demand

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un said he has fond memories of President Trump and suggested he would be open to resuming talks if the U.S. dropped its long-standing demand for denuclearization as a precondition to diplomacy.

Speaking to the Supreme People’s Assembly on Sunday, Kim made clear he would never surrender his nuclear weapons program.

“The world already knows well what the United States does after forcing other countries to give up their nuclear weapons and disarm,” Kim said in his speech, which was published by state media Monday.

“We will never lay down our nuclear weapons,” he continued. “There will be no negotiations, now or ever, about trading anything with hostile countries in exchange for lifting sanctions.”

Kim added he still holds “good personal memories” of Trump from when they first met and said there is “no reason not to” resume diplomatic talks with Washington if the U.S. “abandons its delusional obsession with denuclearization.”

The North Korean leader, however, also said he has no intention of resuming talks with South Korea, which played a key role in brokering past summits between Trump and Kim.

Tensions between North and South Korea have escalated in recent years, as North Korea has accelerated its weapons testing and Kim has more closely aligned with Russia and China. Kim suspended cooperation with the South after his 2019 summit with Trump ended in a standoff over U.S. sanctions.

"We will never unify with a country that entrusts its politics and defense to a foreign power," Kim said during his speech, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. He called the prospect for Korean unification “unnecessary,” the agency reported.

The Associated Press contributed.