In his customary New Year’s Eve remarks, North Korea leader Kim Jong-un proposed to hold “highest-level” talks with South Korea, calling the current relationship between the neighboring countries “tragic.” A meeting with South Korean president Park Geun-hye in 2015 would be the first summit between both nations in nearly eight years.

“We believe we can resume suspended senior-level talks and hold other talks on specific issues if South Korea sincerely has a position that it wants to improve North-South relations through a dialogue,” Kim said in his annual end-of-the-year speech.

While claiming to want to thaw the relationship with South Korea, the young leader also used his remarks to push back against one of its neighbor’s top allies: the United States. As his country faces repeated accusations of human-rights violations, Kim called the effort to marginalize North Korea a sham by the American government.

“The U.S. and its followers are holding on to a nasty ‘human rights’ racket, as their schemes to destroy our self-defensive nuclear deterrent and stifle our republic by force become unrealizable,” he said, calling for South Korea to end its military exercises with the U.S.

Despite his claims, experts predict that Kim’s speech will do little to improve relations between North and South Korea.