North Korea says it is not “interested” in additional denuclearization negotiations with the U.S. without more concessions from Washington, just one day after President Trump hinted at upcoming talks with Pyongyang with a tweet that read in part, “See you soon!”
In a statement released Monday, Kim Kye-gwan, an adviser to the North Korean Foreign Ministry, said Mr. Trump’s tweet was “interpreted it as a signification indicative of another [North Korea]-U.S. summit.”
“We are no longer interested in such talks that bring nothing to us,” the statement continued. North Korean officials have been pressing the U.S. for immediate relief on economic sanctions, a demand that has left Mr. Trump’s high-stakes diplomatic outreach to Pyongyang at a standstill.
In the Sunday morning tweet addressed directly to Kim Jong-un, Mr. Trump said “I am the only one who can get you where you have to be. You should act quickly, get the deal done. See you soon!”
Pyongyang’s remarks come shortly after the Pentagon announced it called off planned joint aerial military exercises with South Korea in an “act of good will” aimed at boosting diplomatic efforts with North Korea, who has long seen the exercises as threatening to their security.
The North’s foreign ministry pointed to several rounds of negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang that have taken place since last year, “but no particular improvement has been achieved in the [North Korean]-U.S. relations,” the ministry said.
Talks between the two countries have appeared to make little progress since February’s high-stakes second summit between the president and Mr. Kim in Vietnam. The summit ended abruptly when Mr. Trump walked out after refusing to offer sweeping sanctions relief to Pyongyang unless North Korea agreed upfront to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs.
Pyongyang had set a year-end deadline for the U.S. to offer fresh negotiating proposals.
“If the U.S. truly wants to keep on dialogue with [North Korea], it had better make a bold decision to drop its hostile policy” toward Pyongyang, Mr. Kim said.
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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