(News Focus) N. Korea keeps door open for dialogue with U.S.; deepens hostility toward Seoul

▲ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks to the ninth congress of the Workers' Party of Korea on Feb. 19, 2026, in this photo from the Korean Central News Agency the following day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

▲ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) holds a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom on June 30, 2019. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

▲ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) attends a military parade at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang on Feb. 25, 2026, accompanied by his daughter Ju-ae, in this Korean Central News Agency photo published the following day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

(News Focus) N Korea-dialogue

(News Focus) N. Korea keeps door open for dialogue with U.S.; deepens hostility toward Seoul

SEOUL, Feb. 26 (Yonhap) -- North Korea left the door open to resuming dialogue with the United States while deepening hostility toward Seoul, in what experts say appears to be an effort to pursue North Korea–U.S. relations independently.

On Thursday, North Korea reported the results of the weeklong congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, held from last Thursday to Wednesday, during which Kim declared, "There is no reason why we cannot get on well with the U.S."

Kim qualified the statement, stipulating that the U.S. must first respect "the present position of our state specified in the Constitution of the DPRK and withdraw its hostile policy toward the DPRK."

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea.

"The prospect of the DPRK-U.S. relations depends entirely on the attitude of the U.S. side," Kim said. "Whether it is peaceful coexistence or eternal confrontation, we are prepared for everything, and that choice is not made by us."

"The present position" cited by Kim apparently refers to North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons, suggesting that the North wants Washington to recognize it as a nuclear weapons state and abandon its denuclearization approach to resume dialogue.

Such a position has previously been revealed by Kim during a parliamentary meeting in September last year, when he said, "If the U.S. drops its ... denuclearization (policy), there is no reason for us not to sit down with the U.S."

Experts said the North Korean stance increases the likelihood that Kim will respond to U.S. President Donald Trump's overture for dialogue on the occasion of Trump's upcoming visit to China, scheduled for March 31-April 2.

Kim may attempt to have his regime's self-claimed status as a nuclear weapons state recognized by the U.S. through dialogue, emboldened by its increasingly sophisticated nuclear and missile programs and closer ties with Russia, experts said.

"North Korea may refuse any negotiations with the U.S. over denuclearization, but it has left the possibility of dialogue open by setting a precondition that Washington first abandon its hostile policy," said Yang Moo-jin, a senior professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

Toward South Korea, however, North Korea further cemented its antagonistic stance, rejecting any possibility of dialogue with Seoul.

Kim said the party "put a historic end to the abnormal relations with the ROK ... and made a final crucial decision to define these relations as the most hostile state-to-state relationship."

He described the stance as an "invariable, principled stand" of North Korea's ruling party and government. "The DPRK remains strong and conclusive in its determination and will to regard the ROK just as a very hostile state and eternal enemy on this principle in the future."

ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea.

Kim also denounced the reconciliatory policy of President Lee Jae Myung's administration toward Pyongyang as "deceptive," saying the North has "nothing to discuss with the ROK and will exclude it from the category of compatriots forever."

He vows to launch "any action" if Seoul engages in "mischievous acts," warning that "the possibility of the ROK's complete collapse in the extension of the action cannot be ruled out."

Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said the remarks could be translated as a warning to Seoul against intervening in North Korean affairs, including its dialogue with the U.S.

"It means North Korea is declaring it will handle its relations with the U.S. independently, rather than through South Korea," Yang Moon-in added.

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