North Korea snubs US offer for talks, citing ‘hostile policy’, as Blinken continues Seoul visit
- US-led diplomacy on North Korea’s nuclear programme has stalled for about two years because of disputes over US-led sanctions
- President Joe Biden is pushing to restore alliances that were frayed under his predecessor Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ approach
The statement by Choe Son Hui, the first vice foreign minister, came hours before the top diplomats and defence chiefs of the US and South Korea meet in Seoul in their first joint talks in five years to discuss North Korea’s nuclear programme.
“We don’t think there is need to respond to the US delaying-time trick again,” Choe said in a statement carried by state media. “We have already declared our stand that no [North Korea]-US contact and dialogue of any kind can be possible unless the US rolls back its hostile policy toward [North Korea]. Therefore, we will disregard such an attempt of the US in the future, too.”
US-led diplomacy on North Korea’s nuclear programme has stalled for about two years because of disputes over US-led sanctions on the North. Experts are debating over whether the US and its allies should settle for a deal that would freeze North Korea’s nuclear activities in return for relaxing sanctions to prevent its arsenal from further growing.
