PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will soon decide whether to continue diplomatic talks and maintain his moratorium on missile launches and nuclear tests, a senior North Korean official said Friday, adding that the U.S. threw away a golden opportunity at the recent summit between their leaders.
Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, addressing a meeting of diplomats and foreign media, including The Associated Press, in Pyongyang said the North was deeply disappointed by the failure of the two sides to reach any agreements at the Hanoi summit between Kim and President Donald Trump.
She said Pyongyang now has no intention of compromising or continuing talks unless the United States takes measures that are commensurate to the changes it has taken — such as the 15-month moratorium on launches and tests — and changes its “political calculation.”
Choe, who attended the Feb. 27-28 talks in Hanoi, said Kim was puzzled by what she called the “eccentric” negotiation position of the U.S. She suggested that while Trump was more willing to talk, an atmosphere of hostility and mistrust was created by the uncompromising demands of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton. She said statements by senior Trump advisers since the summit have further worsened the climate.
Even so, she said personal relations between the two leaders are still good “and the chemistry is mysteriously wonderful.”
She said it was entirely up to Kim whether to continue the launch and test moratorium, and said she expects he will “clarify his position” within a short period of time.
“On our way back to the homeland, our chairman of the state affairs commission said. ‘For what reason do we have to make this train trip again?’” she said. “I want to make it clear that the gangster-like stand of the U.S. will eventually put the situation in danger. We have neither the intention to compromise with the U.S. in any form nor much less the desire or plan to conduct this kind of negotiation.”
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North Korea's Choe Son Hui’s briefing today (reported by @EricTalmadge from Pyongyang) served several purposes.https://t.co/YxpSZQpPoS
— Suzanne DiMaggio (@suzannedimaggio) March 15, 2019
So, this is the part where I pull out what I wrote a year ago for @USATODAY and note that this is pretty much what I (and other experts) assumed would happen.https://t.co/XNXjaNnpZ6
They're not giving up their nukes. The only question is close they are to an ICBM. https://t.co/abr1NIUlbV
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) March 15, 2019
Choe emphasized that it was the personal relationship between Kim and Trump that mattered most. We should expect the NKs preference to deal directly with Trump to continue. This doesn't bode well for gaining much needed traction at the working level.
— Suzanne DiMaggio (@suzannedimaggio) March 15, 2019
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