SEOUL: The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Tuesday that Washington had “wrong” expectations for dialogue with Pyongyang and was facing “greater disappointment,” state media reported.
Kim Yo Jong’s comments came after US national security adviser Jake Sullivan described her brother’s first reaction to Washington’s recent review of its approach to the North as an “interesting signal.”
The Biden administration has promised a practical, calibrated approach, including diplomatic efforts, to persuade the impoverished North to give up its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
In response, the North’s leader Kim last week said Pyongyang must prepare for both dialogue and confrontation.
Washington considered his comments as interesting, Sullivan told ABC News, adding the administration “will wait to see whether they are followed up with any kind of more direct communication to us about a potential path forward.”
But Kim Yo Jong — a key adviser to her brother — appeared to dismiss the prospects for an early resumption of negotiations.
The US seemed to be seeking “comfort for itself,” she said in a statement reported by Pyongyang’s official KCNA news agency.
It harbored expectations “the wrong way,” she added, which would “plunge them into a greater disappointment.”
Kim’s comments came with the top US diplomat in charge of North Korea negotiations on a five-day visit to Seoul, where he said Monday that Washington was ready to meet with Pyongyang “anywhere, anytime, without preconditions.”
Just hours before Pyongyang released Kim’s statement, US envoy Sung Kim met with the South’s unification minister, reiterating Washington’s willingness to talk with the North.
The North at the weekend admitted it was tackling a food crisis, sounding the alarm in a country with a moribund agricultural sector that has long struggled to feed itself.
It is now under self-imposed isolation to protect itself against the coronavirus pandemic, and as a result trade with Beijing — its economic lifeline — has slowed to a trickle while all international aid work faces tight restrictions.
![]()
US has ‘wrong’ expectation for dialogue with North Korea: Kim Jong Un’s sister
Short Url
https://arab.news/rb8nk
US has ‘wrong’ expectation for dialogue with North Korea: Kim Jong Un’s sister
- The Biden administration has promised a practical, calibrated approach to North Korea
- Kim Yo Jong – a key adviser to her brother – appeared to dismiss the prospects for an early resumption of negotiations
Ukraine accuses Hungary, Slovakia of ‘blackmail’ over threats to cut electricity
KYIV: Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as “ultimatums and blackmail” by the governments of Hungary and Slovakia on Saturday, after they threatened to stop electricity supplies to Ukraine unless Kyiv restarts flows of Russian oil.
Shipments of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia have been cut off since January 27, when Kyiv says a Russian drone strike hit pipeline equipment in Western Ukraine. Slovakia and Hungary say Ukraine is to blame for the prolonged outage.
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday that he would cut off emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine within two days unless Kyiv resumes Russian oil transit to Slovakia over Ukraine’s territory. Hungary’s Viktor Orban made a similar threat days earlier.
The issue has become one of the angriest disputes yet between Ukraine and two neighbors that are members of the EU and NATO but whose leaders have bucked the largely pro-Ukrainian consensus in Europe to cultivate warm ties with Moscow.
Slovakia and Hungary are the only two EU countries that still rely on significant amounts of Russian oil shipped via the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline over Ukraine.
“Ukraine rejects and condemns the ultimatums and blackmail by the governments of Hungary and the Slovak Republic regarding energy supplies between our countries,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Ultimatums should be sent to the Kremlin, and certainly not to Kyiv.”
HUNGARY, SLOVAKIA ARE KEY FOR UKRAINE’S ELECTRICITY IMPORTS
Between them, Hungary and Slovakia have been providing around half of European emergency electricity exports to Ukraine, which Kyiv increasingly relies on as Russian attacks have damaged its grid.
“If oil supplies to Slovakia are not resumed on Monday, I will ask SEPS, the state-owned joint-stock company, to stop emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine,” Fico said in a post on X.
Kyiv said that such actions were “provocative, irresponsible, and threaten the energy security of the entire region.”
Throughout the war that began with the full-scale Russian invasion whose fourth anniversary falls on Tuesday, Ukraine has allowed its territory to be used for Russian energy exports to Europe, which have been sharply curtailed but not halted.
Ukraine has proposed alternative transit routes to ship oil to Europe while emergency pipeline repair works are under way.
In a letter seen by Reuters, the Ukrainian mission to the EU proposed shipments through Ukraine’s oil transportation system or a maritime route, potentially including the Odesa-Brody pipeline linking Ukraine’s main Black Sea port to the EU.
Since October last year, Russia has intensified its drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian energy system, knocking out electricity and heat and plunging millions of Ukrainians into long blackouts during bitterly cold winter temperatures.
Shipments of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia have been cut off since January 27, when Kyiv says a Russian drone strike hit pipeline equipment in Western Ukraine. Slovakia and Hungary say Ukraine is to blame for the prolonged outage.
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday that he would cut off emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine within two days unless Kyiv resumes Russian oil transit to Slovakia over Ukraine’s territory. Hungary’s Viktor Orban made a similar threat days earlier.
The issue has become one of the angriest disputes yet between Ukraine and two neighbors that are members of the EU and NATO but whose leaders have bucked the largely pro-Ukrainian consensus in Europe to cultivate warm ties with Moscow.
Slovakia and Hungary are the only two EU countries that still rely on significant amounts of Russian oil shipped via the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline over Ukraine.
“Ukraine rejects and condemns the ultimatums and blackmail by the governments of Hungary and the Slovak Republic regarding energy supplies between our countries,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Ultimatums should be sent to the Kremlin, and certainly not to Kyiv.”
HUNGARY, SLOVAKIA ARE KEY FOR UKRAINE’S ELECTRICITY IMPORTS
Between them, Hungary and Slovakia have been providing around half of European emergency electricity exports to Ukraine, which Kyiv increasingly relies on as Russian attacks have damaged its grid.
“If oil supplies to Slovakia are not resumed on Monday, I will ask SEPS, the state-owned joint-stock company, to stop emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine,” Fico said in a post on X.
Kyiv said that such actions were “provocative, irresponsible, and threaten the energy security of the entire region.”
Throughout the war that began with the full-scale Russian invasion whose fourth anniversary falls on Tuesday, Ukraine has allowed its territory to be used for Russian energy exports to Europe, which have been sharply curtailed but not halted.
Ukraine has proposed alternative transit routes to ship oil to Europe while emergency pipeline repair works are under way.
In a letter seen by Reuters, the Ukrainian mission to the EU proposed shipments through Ukraine’s oil transportation system or a maritime route, potentially including the Odesa-Brody pipeline linking Ukraine’s main Black Sea port to the EU.
Since October last year, Russia has intensified its drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian energy system, knocking out electricity and heat and plunging millions of Ukrainians into long blackouts during bitterly cold winter temperatures.
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.