North Korea: Biden Ready To Meet With Kim Jong Un Without Pre-conditions

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the event could be a historic turning point in tense relations between the United States and North Korea. According to Kirby, “President Joe Biden is ready to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without preconditions to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

The announcement was made hours after a summit at the presidential residence at Camp David between Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Kirby emphasized that the United States had “already offered” a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders, but an outright refusal had allegedly come from Pyongyang. “They did not respond positively to this proposal, but it is still in force. We are ready to sit down and negotiate without preconditions,” the White House spokesman said but did not specify when the offer was made.

Unlike his predecessor Donald Trump, who met Kim Jong Un in person three times, relations between the two countries have fallen to an all-time low under the Joe Biden administration. Recently, Washington has made attempts to restore relations through diplomatic channels, but this is the first proposal for a summit meeting.

“So far he has expressed no interest,” Kirby said of the North Korean leader’s reaction. “But we need to make sure that we are ready in every other way to protect our national security interests, as well as the interests of our South Korean and Japanese allies,” Kirby summarized, clarifying that “this means increasing military capabilities in the region.”

This is prompted by the information from Seoul intelligence about North Korea preparing new tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles and even a possible launch of a spy satellite into orbit between late August and early September. A previous attempt of this kind failed in May.

Meanwhile, on August 15, Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his “determination” to further develop military-technical cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. The speech of the North Korean leader was announced at the 11th Moscow Conference on International Security. According to the Russian news agency TASS, after “repeated meetings” with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Kim Jong Un “expressed his assessment of the radical change in the international security and military-political situation on the Korean Peninsula” and emphasized his intention to “further develop tactical and strategic interaction and cooperation between the two countries in the field of defense security.”