UNITED NATIONS — On Monday (Sept 30), North Korea signaled a reluctance to return to the personal diplomacy its leader Kim Jong-un once had with former U.S. President Donald Trump, regardless of the outcome of the upcoming U.S. presidential election on Nov 5.

"Whoever assumes office in the US, we will deal with the U.S. as a state entity, not just the current administration," North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations, Song Kim, stated during the annual UN General Assembly in New York.

He added, "Similarly, any future U.S. administration will have to face the DPRK, which is not the same as what the U.S. previously perceived," referring to North Korea by its official name.

According to Reuters, a senior North Korean diplomat who defected to South Korea recently revealed that North Korea may seek to resume nuclear talks with the U.S. if Trump is reelected, and is preparing a new strategy for negotiations.

During his earlier presidency, Trump engaged in both aggressive rhetoric and groundbreaking diplomacy with North Korea, which ended in 2021.

The defector, Ri Il Gyu, shared that North Korean diplomats are working on a plan if Trump wins over Vice President Kamala Harris, aiming to lift sanctions on its weapons programs, remove its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, and secure economic aid.

A 2019 summit between Kim Jong-un and Trump in Vietnam fell apart due to disagreements over sanctions and the U.S. demand that North Korea abandon its nuclear arsenal. Since then, Pyongyang has ignored efforts by President Joe Biden's administration to resume talks.

In a June election debate, Trump claimed that China’s Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin "have no respect" for Biden, accusing him of leading the country toward "World War Three."

In August, Trump commented that Kim Jong-un "liked me a lot," while criticizing the Biden-Harris administration by saying, "He doesn't like this group... We're in great danger, on the brink of World War Three."

Song Kim reiterated that decades of U.S. hostility and its nuclear threat had forced North Korea to pursue nuclear weapons. He quoted Kim Jong-un as saying, "We can choose dialogue or confrontation, but we must continue to prepare ourselves thoroughly for confrontation."

Disclaimer: This image is taken from Reuters file