North Korea yesterday said that the US redesignating Pyongyang as a sponsor of terrorism is dimming prospects for nuclear diplomacy between the countries.
The North’s remarks came as the country escalates its pressures on the US over a stalemate in nuclear negotiations.
Last week, North Korea test-fired projectiles from what it called a newly developed “super-large” multiple rocket launcher in the country’s first weapons test in about a month.
The North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said in a statement that the US Department of State’s terrorism blacklist report released last week proves again that the US maintains a “hostile policy” and “inveterate repugnancy” toward North Korea.
“This is an insult to and perfidy against a dialogue partner,” the statement said.
“The channel of the dialogue between [North Korea] and the US is more and more narrowing” due to the US stance, it added.
North Korea had been on the terrorism blacklist for two decades after its agents were blamed for the bombing of a South Korean airliner that killed 115 people in 1987. It was delisted in 2008 as Washington tried to entice North Korea into a nuclear deal.
However, the administration of US President Donald Trump relisted it in 2017, saying that the North repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism.
The most glaring recent case was the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, using VX nerve agent at a Malaysian airport in 2017.
Last year, North Korea and the US launched on-and-off diplomacy on what terms North Korea would give up its advancing nuclear arsenal.
However, the talks largely have stalled since a second summit between Kim and Trump collapsed in February due to disputes over sanctions on North Korea.
Negotiators last month met in Stockholm, but reportedly made no meaningful progress.
The South Korean National Intelligence Service on Monday told lawmakers in a closed-door meeting that it expects the US-North Korea talks to resume by early next month at the latest, according to Lee Eun-jae, one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting.
North Korea has demanded that the US work out mutually acceptable proposals to salvage the nuclear diplomacy by year’s end.
Some experts have said that North Korea could perform more weapons tests in the coming weeks as it approaches the end-of-year deadline.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other