Kim Yo Jong rejects Trump's claim of secret Kim talks
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- Trump said Kim Jong-un has responded to his request for a conversation and confirmed he plans to meet Kim later this year, telling reporters at Marine One 'Yeah, he has' and 'Yeah, I will be.'
- Kim Yo Jong said she knew 'absolutely nothing' about supposed communications between Trump and her brother, calling the US an enemy of Pyongyang and noting that 'hostile military activities against the DPRK' continue at this very moment.
- The Wall Street Journal reported Trump is pushing aides to set up an in-person meeting with Kim Jong-un, potentially during the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November.
- Trump publicly disclosed North Korea has 57 'very powerful nuclear weapons' — an unusually precise intelligence reveal — and added that Iran should not be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon.
- Kim Yo Jong praised Trump's 'personally good memories' toward Kim Jong-un and acknowledged an 'excellent relationship,' while denying Zelenskyy's claim that North Korea planned to deploy tens of thousands of troops to fight for Russia.
- Trump announced the US would downgrade its participation in South Korea military exercises before floating the Kim meeting, a withdrawal of allied military activity without Pyongyang's confirmation of any diplomatic return.
Why it matters: Trump's claim that Kim has responded to his outreach is directly contradicted by Pyongyang's most powerful public spokesperson. If Kim Yo Jong's denial holds, the US downgrade of South Korea drills is a concession made without a diplomatic return, and Trump's disclosure of an exact nuclear-weapon count (57) burns an intelligence asset for a meeting that may not be on.
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