Seoul, June 27: A North Korean diplomat in-charged for US affairs has on Thursday said the United States needs to take strict action to present a fresh strategy to resume denuclearization talks, cautioning time was running out for a third meeting ahead of Pyongyang’s year-end deadline for negotiations.
According to Reuters news reports, after the collapse of the Hanoi summit between US President Donald Trump and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un, the Pyongyang’s leader has said a third summit would only be possible if Washington adopted a more flexible approach, adding he will be waiting till the end of 2019.
On Wednesday, Trump said he would not be meeting with Kim on the sidelines of the G20 summit scheduled to take place in Osaka, Japan, this weekend, which is expected to include a trip to South Korea.
The director of the North Korean foreign ministry, Kwon Jong Gun, said the US had already spoken of talks while “contemptibly committing hostile acts”, though he didn’t elaborate.
However, a foreign ministry spokesperson on Wednesday stated the recent US extension of the sanctions against Pyongyang was a hostility act an outright challenge to the very first summit between Trump and Kim last year in Singapore.
“Dialogue doesn’t happen by itself when the United States doesn’t act to come up with a realistic approach that serves the interests of both sides and speaks of a restart of talks like a parrot,” Kwon said in a statement carried by Pyongyang’s official KCNA news agency.
He added, “The United States doesn’t have much time left if it were to move to produce results.”
On Sunday, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has said the recent exchange of personal letters between Kim and Trump boosted hopes for a third summit, describing it as “very real possibility”.