SEOUL: The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said on Tuesday that personal ties between the leaders of the North and the United States are "not bad, " while ruling out talks on Pyongyang's denuclearisation.
Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the ruling party's Central Committee, made the remarks as US President Donald Trump has expressed his intent to reengage with the North's leader.
"I do not want to deny the fact that the personal relationship between the head of our state and the present US president is not bad, " Kim said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"However, if the personal relations between the top leaders of the DPRK and the US are to serve the purpose of denuclearisation, it can be interpreted as nothing but a mockery of the other party, " she said.
DPRK is the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Her remarks came days after a White House official told Yonhap News Agency that Trump remains open to engagement with the North Korean leader to achieve a "fully denuclearised" North Korea.
Expectations have persisted that Trump might seek to resume his diplomacy with Kim, which led to three in-person meetings between them, including the first summit in Singapore in 2018. But the Hanoi summit in 2019 ended without a deal due to differences over the North's denuclearisation steps in return for sanctions relief, Yonhap News Agency reported.