TOKYO — North Korea wants the United States to know: It’s not about the money.

In the flurry of diplomacy to get the planned Singapore summit talks between President Trump and Kim Jong-un back on track, North Korea has been emphatic that it will not give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for American economic aid.

Earlier this week, Rodong Shinmun, North Korea’s main state-run daily newspaper, sharply criticized American news outlets as “hack media on the payroll of power” for featuring United States officials discussing how aid would flow toward North Korea if it agreed to give up its nuclear program.

“As far as the ‘economic aid’ advertised by the U.S. is concerned,” the Rodong column said, North Korea “has never expected it.”

That was a clear rebuke to Mr. Trump’s strategy of dangling the promise of prosperity if North Korea agrees to denuclearize.