Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, stated Wednesday she was unaware of any such contact between her brother and Trump.
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Printed Aug 19, 2026 • 3 minute learn
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Seoul, Aug 19, 2026 (AFP) — The highly effective sister of Kim Jong Un stated Wednesday she was “unaware” of reported communication between her brother and Donald Trump, after the US president hinted at contact with the North Korean chief, however stated ties between the 2 remained “wonderful”.
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Kim Yo Jong’s assertion got here hours after Washington and Seoul introduced their annual workouts would finish a couple of week sooner than deliberate following an order from Trump to scale them again.
Trump stated on Sunday that he had instructed the Pentagon to curtail the annual Ulchi Freedom Defend workouts — a day earlier than they began — citing his “good relationship” with North Korean chief Kim Jong Un.
Requested on Monday whether or not Kim had responded to his requests for a dialog, Trump stated: “Yeah, he has.”
However Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, stated Wednesday she was unaware of any such contact between her brother and Trump.
“Relating to the latest information from Washington about communication between the leaders of North Korea and the US, I’m fully unaware of it,” she stated in a press release.
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“It’s possible the one matter regarding our prime management’s overseas coverage that I’m unaware of.”
Kim Yo Jong nonetheless stated her brother nonetheless had “good recollections and emotions” about Trump and that the connection between the 2 leaders stays “wonderful”.
Earlier Wednesday, Seoul’s navy stated the drills would wrap up on Friday, not on August 27 as initially deliberate.
“We have now determined to regulate the UFS train interval to run from the seventeenth to the twenty first,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Employees stated in a press release.
The choice was made “on the suggestion of the US aspect”, it added.
The Pentagon stated the “considerably lowered” drills would “protect important readiness and… (trigger) no degradation to US coaching goals”.
The workouts are designed to arrange for a doable assault by North Korea.
They have been understood to encompass two phases: the primary, centered on defending in opposition to potential North Korean threats, was attributable to run till Friday; and the second, centered on a counteroffensive, from August 24 to 27.
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The second part is now understood to have been scrapped.
Kim Yo Jong, nevertheless, dismissed the discount, saying: “we don’t think about it price commenting on and discover it fully uninteresting.”
She stated decreasing the dimensions or length of the train didn’t change their “provocative and aggressive” character.
Nuclear-armed North Korea has lengthy voiced outrage on the workouts, contemplating them gown rehearsals for an invasion.
Wednesday’s early morning commentary by the state-run Korean Central Information Company stated they pose “essentially the most rapid and open risk” to North Korea and “regional safety”.
That commentary didn’t point out Trump’s order or his need to renew talks with Kim, with whom he has hinted at being in touch.
– ‘A lot safer’ –
Within the preliminary announcement on his Reality Social platform, Trump described the drills as unfriendly in the direction of a rustic that had been respectful to him.
South Korea’s International Minister Cho Hyun instructed lawmakers on Wednesday that Seoul had not been knowledgeable upfront of Trump’s plan to downsize them.
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“Neither our authorities nor US authorities officers knew upfront what President Trump revealed by way of Reality Social,” Cho stated.
Trump has insisted that he’s making the state of affairs “a lot safer” by his ties with Kim.
“There was persistent hypothesis that Washington might search renewed talks with Pyongyang forward of the November US midterm elections,” Yang Moo-jin, former president of the College of North Korean Research, instructed AFP.
“For Trump, a gathering with… Kim Jong Un might provide an opportunity to safe a foreign-policy legacy.”
The Wall Avenue Journal reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed US officers, that Trump is pushing aides to arrange a gathering with Kim as quickly as this autumn.
“Decreasing workouts might have a optimistic influence on the opportunity of US-North Korea dialogue,” Park Gained-gon, a professor at Ewha Womans College, instructed AFP.
“The suspension of joint workouts has at all times been a prerequisite for North Korea to have interaction in dialogue with the US,” he added.
Trump and Kim met 3 times in his first spell within the White Home, however they haven’t held talks throughout his second time period.
America stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to bolster the nation’s defences, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean Struggle that ended with an armistice relatively than a peace treaty.
Trump has repeatedly criticized longstanding US alliances, casting doubt on Washington’s dedication to safety in East Asia and alarming regional companions.
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