North Korea feels no need to sit face to face with the US as the latter only considers the dialogue as a tool for grappling its political crisis, a senior North Korean official said on Saturday.
In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, Choe Son-hui, First Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, said a proposal of North Korea-US summit has become a topic for conversation from some days ago, drawing the attention of the international community.
“We cannot but be shocked at the story about the summit indifferent to the present situation of the DPRK [the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea]-US relations,” Choe said.
“Is it possible to hold dialogue or have any dealings with the US which persists in the hostile policy toward the DPRK in disregard of the agreements already made at the past summit?” she asked.
Choe was apparently referring to a suggestion made by South Korean President Moon Jae-in three days ago.
A Seoul official said Wednesday that Moon has called on US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to meet again before the US presidential election in November.
The two leaders have met three times in 2018 and 2019, but failed to reach any tangible result in denuclearization in the Korean Peninsula.
“Now is a very sensitive time when even the slightest misjudgment and misstep would incur fatal and irrevocable consequences,” the vice minister said, adding that the US is mistaken if it thinks things like negotiations would still work on us.
Choe noted that her country has already worked out a detailed strategic timetable for putting under control the long-term threat from the US.
A photo taken Saturday and released Sunday by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency shows top leader Kim Jong-un attending the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang. Photo: AFP
