LONDON, December 8. /TASS/. The latest version of the US National Security Strategy drops any reference to denuclearization of North Korea, a sign Washington might be planning to resume talks with Pyongyang in 2026, Reuters reported.

"I think there is a certain degree of conscious intent there, that the idea of denuclearization ... really doesn't need to be brought up here," the agency quoted Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification as saying.

The report says that for the first time since 2003, the document makes no mention of the need to end the nuclear threat, which North Korea had long been accused of posing. Trump’s previous security blueprint, issued during his first presidential term in 2016, mentioned North Korea 16 times, describing it as a threat to "our homeland" and a rogue state that could "use a nuclear weapon against the United States," Reuters wrote.

In September, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that calls for denuclearization are tantamount to attacks on its constitutional order, because the republic’s nuclear status is written into its constitution.

Earlier, South Korea’s Director of National Security Wi Sung-lak said Seoul was not planning to scale down its military exercises with the United States for the sake of resuming dialogue with North Korea.