Kim Yo Jong rejects US denuclearisation push

Kim Yo Jong called US denuclearisation demands “anachronistic dreams” as North Korea prepared to host Chinese President Xi Jinping for his first visit in seven years. According to The Independent, her statement came a day before the talks and followed a burst of factory and plant inspections by Kim Jong Un, including a visit to a new nuclear materials production site.

The message is aimed at two audiences at once. To Washington and Seoul, Pyongyang is signalling that the old bargain—sanctions relief in exchange for steps toward dismantlement—is no longer even a starting point. Kim Yo Jong framed North Korea’s nuclear status as a settled fact, dismissing US claims that Donald Trump and Xi had reaffirmed a shared goal of denuclearisation during their Beijing summit the previous month. The rhetorical move matters because it narrows the space for quiet diplomacy: if denuclearisation is treated as illegitimate “unilateral rhetoric”, then any future talks become arguments over recognition, not disarmament.

To Beijing, the timing reads like a price tag. Analysts cited by The Independent say Xi’s trip is meant to reassert Chinese influence as North Korea’s foreign-policy centre of gravity has shifted toward Russia. Pyongyang has sent troops and conventional weapons to Russia, while South Korean and US officials say North Korea has received economic and other assistance in return. That exchange changes the leverage China once held through trade and aid: when a second patron appears, each patron has to offer more to stay relevant.

Kim Jong Un’s recent public instructions underline where that extra support would go. The Independent reports he called for expanding missile production capacity by 2.5 times over a five-year plan, and said nuclear forces should be bolstered “at an exponential rate”. Those are not abstract slogans; they are procurement targets. They imply steady demand for materials, machine tools, and energy—inputs that sanctions were designed to restrict but that can be routed through sympathetic partners, grey networks, or dual-use supply chains.

Xi is widely expected to avoid directly pressing denuclearisation in public, and instead arrive with economic assistance programmes. If that happens, the summit will look less like a negotiation over weapons and more like a maintenance visit to keep a volatile neighbour stable—while North Korea’s armaments programme continues to set the timetable.

Kim Yo Jong’s statement did not announce a new test or a new treaty. It simply described denuclearisation as a fantasy, on the eve of a high-profile visit, after the leadership toured the factories that make the alternative.