US President Donald Trump's new global security roadmap has removed any mention of North Korea's nuclear disarmament as a goal, Reuters reports.
This increases speculation that Washington may be seeking to increase the chances of a diplomatic breakthrough with Pyongyang by 2026.
The goal of ending the nuclear threat posed by North Korea has been a constant in the National Security Strategy of every US president since the emergence of Pyongyang's program in 2003, but is absent from the latest document.
The omission of any mention of North Korea and its accelerating program to build nuclear weapons that can be carried by ballistic missiles capable of hitting the US mainland, fueling expectations of a potential resumption of talks between Trump and Kim Jong-un, last held in 2019.
Trump has spoken of his willingness to sit down with the North Korean leader in a "proactive" manner, showing that he "wants to achieve something by taking some action," said Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification.
"Then I think there is a certain degree of conscious intention that the idea of denuclearization really doesn't need to be raised here," said Hong, an expert on Pyongyang's strategic thinking.
In Trump's previous security plan, issued during his first term in 2017, North Korea was mentioned 16 times as a threat to "our homeland" and a rogue state that could "use nuclear weapons against the United States".
This year's document sets out Trump's vision of "flexible realism" that focuses on limiting the conflict with China over Taiwan by strengthening the military power of its allies in Asia, mainly South Korea and Japan.
Both South Korea and the United States today denied any change in policy toward North Korea, stressing that denuclearization remains the goal.
However, Kim made it clear that whether he could return to talks depended on their character and that he and Trump would have to meet as equal leaders of nuclear states.
"The concept of "nuclear disarmament" has already lost its meaning. "We are a nuclear state," Kim told parliament in September. "I say 'denuclearization' is the last, last thing that can be expected of us."
"If the United States, freeing itself from its absurd pursuit of denuclearizing others and recognizing reality, wants true peaceful coexistence with us, there is no reason not to face that," Kim stressed.
Analysts say peace talks with Trump would solidify Kim's position at home as a world leader and prove to his impoverished people that he has fulfilled a promise that his father and grandfather could not keep.
The two held summits in 2018 and 2019 before talks over Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal collapsed. North Korea is under heavy international sanctions over its weapons and ballistic missile program.
After the U.S. release of the document, South Korea stressed that it believed the stars could align to restart talks with North Korea next year and that signals from key players, from the U.S. to China and Japan, were good.
"What we have done so far has yielded results in terms of creating the right conditions for progress in the peace process on the Korean Peninsula," said Wi Soon-lak, South Korea's national security adviser, yesterday.
Meanwhile, South Korea has been quietly strengthening its own defense capabilities, pledging to increase military spending to 3.5 percent of GDP by 2035, with a 7.5 percent increase next year in line with Trump's demands.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday praised South Korea for "model" ally who "will receive our special favor" because it has agreed to "take the lead in conventional defense. We are optimistic that other allies in the Indo-Pacific region will follow suit".
In talks with Trump in October, South Korean President Lee Jae-myeon received approval to build nuclear submarines with U.S. help to supply fuel, given Seoul's commitment to be nuclear-free.