North Korea is likely to suspend nuclear talks with the United States and is considering to rethink a ban over nuclear and missile tests unless the US make concessions, according to North’s capital news report on Friday quoting a senior Korean diplomat.
According to Reuters news reports, vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui has blamed top American officials for a breakdown of the Hanoi summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.
Choe told reporters: “We have no intention to yield to the U.S. demands (at the Hanoi summit) in any form, nor are we willing to engage in negotiations of this kind.”
Tass news agency quoted Choe as saying that US national security advisor John Bolton and secretary of state Mike Pompeo “created the atmosphere of hostility and mistrust and, therefore, obstructed the constructive effort for negotiations between the supreme leaders of North Korea and the United States”.
Kim is slated to make an official announcement soon regarding the denuclearization dialogues with the US officials and Korea’s further actions, the agency reported.
Choe said, “I want to make it clear that the gangster-like stand of the U.S. will eventually put the situation in danger,” but she further added, “Personal relations between the two supreme leaders are still good and the chemistry is mysteriously wonderful.”
North Korea expert Joshua Pollack said North Korea may be delivering an ultimatum.
“They’re putting down a marker, saying which way things are headed if nothing changes,” Pollack, of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, said.