North Korea has publicly rejected the resumption of denuclearization negotiations with the United States, despite describing personal relations between leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump as “not bad.” In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s influential sister, said any effort to link the leaders’ rapport to nuclear disarmament would be viewed as “a mockery” and insisted Washington acknowledge Pyongyang as a nuclear-armed state. Kim Yo Jong’s comments responded to recent signals from the White House that Trump remains open to direct engagement aimed at achieving a “fully denuclearized” Korean Peninsula. She stressed that “the year 2025 is neither 2018 nor 2019,” referencing the breakdown of earlier Trump–Kim summits, and warned that talks premised on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear arsenal would go nowhere. The statement comes as Pyongyang deepens cooperation with Moscow. A regular passenger air link between Moscow and Pyongyang commenced this week, underscoring closer economic and possible military coordination that analysts say could help North Korea mitigate the impact of international sanctions.