The top US representative in talks with North Korea yesterday slammed Pyongyang’s demands as hostile and unnecessary as its end-of-year deadline approaches, but held open the door for fresh negotiations.
The North has insisted that Washington offer it new concessions by the end of the year, with the process largely deadlocked since the collapse of a summit in Hanoi in February.
Pyongyang has issued a series of increasingly strident declarations in recent weeks, and US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun told reporters in Seoul: “We have heard them all.”
Photo: Reuters
“It is regrettable that the tone of these statements towards the United States, the Republic of Korea, Japan and our friends in Europe have been so hostile and negative and so unnecessary,” he said.
“The US does not have a deadline, we have a goal,” he added.
Tensions between the US and the nuclear-armed North reached a peak in 2017, with US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un trading mutual insults and threats of renewed conflict.
A rapid diplomatic detente followed, climaxing with the Singapore summit, when the two men signed a vague statement on denuclearization, but Washington still stations 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect its ally.
Pyongyang has said that if Washington fails to make it an acceptable offer, it would adopt a so far unspecified “new way.”
It has carried out a series of static tests at its Sohae rocket facility this month, after a number of weapons launches in recent weeks, some of them described as ballistic missiles by Japan and others — which Pyongyang is banned from testing under UN sanctions.
Biegun, who met yesterday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, said that the US was “fully aware of the strong potential for North Korea to conduct a major provocation in the days ahead.”
“To say the least, such an action will be most unhelpful in achieving lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula,” he said.
Directly addressing “our counterparts in North Korea,” Biegun added: “It is time for us to do our jobs. Let’s get this done. We are here and you know how to reach us.”
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