North Korea says recent “thoughtless” remarks made by US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, about Pyongyang’s behavior will make resumption of talks with Washington even more difficult.
Pompeo said on Tuesday that Washington “recognized that North Korea's rogue behavior could not be ignored.”
“I hope that Chairman Kim will put his team in the field to work with my team and deliver a good, solid outcome for the American people,” he said.
The North’s vice Foreign Minister, Choe Son Hui, reacted to the comments on Saturday, describing them as unreasonable and provocative.
“Pompeo has gone so far in his language and it made the opening of the expected DPRK-US working-level negotiations more difficult,” Choe said in a statement, using an acronym for North Korea's official name — Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
She warned that Pyongyang's expectations of talks with Washington are gradually disappearing and the country is being pushed to reexamine all measures.
“The US had better not put our patience to the test any longer with such remarks irritating us if it doesn’t want to have bitter regrets afterwards,” Choe warned.
The North has previously suggested that Pompeo should be replaced with a “more mature” person.
Talks between the two sides have stalled since the second summit between US President, Donald Trump and North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un in Vietnam broke up without an agreement or even a joint statement.
Trump walked away from the summit, claiming that Kim had insisted on the removal of all sanctions on North Korea. Pyongyang, however, rejected that account, stressing that it had only asked for a partial lifting of the bans.
Following the failure of the summit, the North repeatedly warned that it was considering ending talks on denuclearization and resuming its nuclear and missile tests over what it described as “the gangster-like stand” of the US
In their third, brief meeting at the Korean border at the end of June, Kim and Trump agreed to kick-start working-level talks. https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/06/30/599774/North-Korea-US-Trump-Kim-DMZ-meeting
Washington has so far refused to offer any sanctions relief in return for several unilateral steps already taken by North Korea. Pyongyang has also demolished at least one nuclear test site and agreed to allow international inspectors into a missile engine test facility.
The US now demands that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons entirely before the sanctions are lifted; Pyongyang insists on a step-by-step approach that would include verifiable American commitment to end its massive military presence near North Korean territorial waters.