Kim Jong Un may abandon diplomatic negotiations with the Trump administration and restart his regime’s missile and nuclear tests, a senior North Korean official said…
Kim Jong Un may abandon diplomatic negotiations with the Trump administration and restart his regime’s missile and nuclear tests, a senior North Korean official said Friday.
Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, addressing a meeting of diplomats and foreign media in Pyongyang, said the U. S. threw away a “golden opportunity” last month at the summit in Hanoi, where Kim and President Donald Trump met over two days but failed to reach any agreement on denuclearization or sanctions relief.
Now, Choe said, “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.”
In Washington, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo downplayed the threat, saying Trump would continue to pursue negotiations with the North Korean leader.
“She left open the possibility that negotiations would continue, for sure,” Pompeo said of Choe’s remarks. “It’s the administration desire that we continue to have conversations around this.”
Pompeo said Kim personally promised Trump that North Korea would not restart its nuclear and missile weapons testing. Kim’s regime has not conducted any such tests for more than a year.
“In Hanoi on multiple occasions, he spoke directly to the president and made a commitment he would not resume nuclear testing, nor would he resume missile testing,” Pompeo said. “We have every expectation he would live up to that.”
Choe, who attended the February talks in Hanoi, said Kim was puzzled by what she called the “eccentric” negotiation position of the U. S. She blamed Pompeo and Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, for creating an “atmosphere of hostility and mistrust” by making uncompromising demands of North Korea.
