By Brenda Goh
SEOUL, May 28 (Reuters) - North Korea does not seem keen to engage with the United States, South Korea or Japan and is focused on building up its self-reliance and military deterrence, Singapore's foreign minister said following a trip to the reclusive state.
According to a transcript shared by the foreign ministry, Vivian Balakrishnan spoke to Singaporean media on Thursday after a visit to both Koreas respectively on May 26 and 27. His last trip to North Korea was in 2018.
"What's clear is that they're certainly in a closer relationship now with Russia. China remains indispensable to it, but they are not yet ready to open up significant channels of communication with the United States or with ROK and Japan at this point in time," he added.
U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung have repeatedly expressed interest in holding talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Pyongyang's ties with Moscow deepened in recent years after North Korea sent thousands of troops to fight with Russian forces in Kursk. Beijing has also been working to draw Pyongyang back into its orbit, with passenger train services and flights between the two neighbours resuming in past months.
Balakrishnan also mentioned North Korea's "outright, categorical rejection of reunification" with South Korea - a shift from his last trip to the nation - and noted how Pyongyang, the capital, has developed despite the country's deepening isolation.
"It’s a city which would fit in with any modern city throughout Southeast Asia, or even Northeast Asia, for that matter," he said.
North Korea has revised its constitution to define its territory as bordering South Korea and remove references to reunification, according to a draft of the text reviewed by Reuters this month, codifying leader Kim Jong Un’s push to treat the two Koreas as separate states.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, who held talks with Balakrishnan on Thursday, said there are no indications North Korea is about to return to the table but his Singaporean counterpart's talks in Pyongyang were an opportunity to explain Seoul's commitment to peaceful coexistence.
Cho also said he believed North Korea will eventually return to dialogue with the U.S. "if the price is right" in an interview with the Yonhap news agency published on Friday.
On Thursday, South Korea's foreign ministry said Cho asked Balakrishnan for Singapore and ASEAN's support for efforts to reopen dialogue with North Korea.
Balakrishnan said he invited North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui to the ASEAN Regional Forum and had encouraged them to look for appropriate opportunities to continue to engage the larger world.
(Reporting by Brenda Goh and Jack Kim; Additional reporting by Yong Jun Yuan in SingaporeEditing by Ed Davies, Chiara Rodriquez and Franklin Paul)
