The North Korean leader pressed ahead with the manoeuvres hours after the US and South Korea called off their own planned exercises and Donald Trump hinted at another summit between the two leaders. But Kim said little had improved despite three meetings between the two leaders since June last year in a statement carried by the state Korean Central News Agency (KNCA).
He said: “We no longer have interest in talks that have no benefit for us.
“We will not give anything for the US president to brag about as we have received nothing in return, and we want to receive the benefits of the accomplishments that President Trump is crediting himself for.”
US defence secretary Mark Esper told an Asian defence ministers’ conference in Bangkok that Washington had indefinitely postponed joint exercises with Seoul in an “act of goodwill” towards North Korea.
Diplomats have been pushing to resume stalled nuclear talks ahead of Kim’s end-of-year deadline for the Trump administration to salvage the diplomacy.
Kim urged North Korea’s combat pilots to prepare against enemies “armed to the teeth” while attending a flight demonstration.
KNCA published photos that showed Kim posing with North Korean air force soldiers who used white parachutes to land on a training field.
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Kim told KNCA it was “necessary to wage a drill without notice under the simulated conditions of real war” for improving his military’s war readiness and build it into an “invincible army”. He did not make any specific comment towards Washington or Seoul.
North Korea has been ramping up missile tests and other military demonstrations in recent months in an apparent pressure tactic over the talks.
Negotiations have faltered since a February summit between Kim and Mr Trump in Vietnam, which broke down after the US rejected North Korean demands for broad sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.
But North Korean negotiator Kim Myong Gil did not clearly say whether Kim would accept the supposed US offer and said the country had no interest in talks if they are aimed at buying time without discussing solutions.
He said North Korea was unwilling to make a deal over “matters of secondary importance” such as possible US offers to formally declare an end to the 1950-53 Korean War, which was halted by a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, or establish a liaison office between the countries.
Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui travelled to Russia today on a trip analysts believe could be to discuss strategy for potential US negotiations.
Cho Han-bum, Senior Research Fellow at Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said: “For Kim Jong Un, having set a year-end deadline himself, it is most important to meet it.”
While North Korea wants the sanctions lifted, the US has insisted Kim must dismantle his nuclear weapons programme first.