Kim Jong Un's Sister Admits She Was Unaware of His Communications with Trump
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has admitted that she ‘did not know’ about any communication between her brother and US President Donald Trump. This comes after Trump hinted at contact with Kim Jong Un and announced plans for a meeting between the two.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday (19/8), Trump claimed he had a ‘very good relationship’ with the North Korean leader. The US President even claimed he ‘knew Kim Jong Un very well’.
‘Regarding the latest news from Washington about communication between the leaders of North Korea and the United States, I am completely unaware of it,’ Kim Yo Jong said in a statement, as reported by AFP on Thursday (20/8/2026).
‘It is likely the only matter concerning the foreign policy of our supreme leader that I do not know about,’ she said.
Nevertheless, Kim Yo Jong, who is highly influential in North Korea, said her brother still had ‘good memories and feelings’ towards Trump. She said the relationship between the two leaders remained ‘very good’.
Trump met Kim Jong Un three times during his first term, after initially mocking the North Korean leader as a ‘rocket man’ and threatening to unleash ‘fire and fury’ against Pyongyang. Their last meeting was held in 2019.
Trump previously said that he and Kim Jong Un ‘fell in love’ after exchanging ‘beautiful letters’. However, the high-profile summits produced little real progress on North Korea’s nuclear issue, and the two have not met again since Trump returned to the White House.
Even so, Trump recently put North Korea back on the main agenda after suddenly announcing on Sunday (16/8) that he had ordered the Pentagon to reduce the scale of joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his relationship with Kim Jong Un.
On Wednesday (19/8), Trump called the joint military exercises ‘very insulting’ to Kim Jong Un and said the North Korean leader had been ‘very nice’.
Trump also raised the possibility of meeting Kim Jong Un again later this year. When asked by reporters whether he planned to meet the North Korean leader this year, the US President replied: ‘Yes, I will.’
Trump did not provide further details, but the leading US media outlet Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was considering a meeting with Kim Jong Un during a visit to Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC summit in November.
Regarding Trump’s decision to reduce the scale of the joint US-South Korea military exercises, which North Korea has always condemned, Kim Yo Jong was reluctant to comment at length. She described the matter as ‘uninteresting’ to Pyongyang.
‘Regarding the sudden reduction of the joint US-South Korea military exercises announced by the US President a few days ago, we consider it unworthy of comment and completely uninteresting to us,’ Kim Yo Jong said in her statement.
Previously, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement released by the North Korean news agency KCNA, condemned the joint exercises as ‘exercises for an aggressive war’ that would trigger new instability in the region.