Senior North Korean diplomat Choi Son Hee (left) attends a U.S.-North Korea working meeting in Singapore. (June 11, 2018)
North Korean First Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son Hee said Thursday (March 18) that the U.S. has been trying to reach out to North Korea through “cheap tricks” lately. She also said dialogue with the U.S. is a “waste of Time” and that there will be no contact or dialogue of any kind between the two countries as long as the U.S. does not lift its hostile policy toward North Korea.
In a statement released by KCNA, the official news agency of the DPRK, Choi Son Hee said that since mid-February, the U.S. has tried to contact the DPRK through various means such as phone calls and emails, and the U.S. has also tried to contact the DPRK through a third country, and these “cheap tricks” are just to stall for time and gain public support.
She also said that since Biden came to power, all that has come out is the crazy “North Korea threat theory” and the baseless “complete denuclearization”.
She said that dialogue with the U.S. is a “waste of time” because the U.S. is not ready to feel and accept the new changes and the new era.
Choi said that as long as the U.S. does not withdraw its hostile policy toward the DPRK, any kind of contact and dialogue between the two countries will not be possible, and the DPRK will continue to ignore the U.S. request for access to the DPRK.
Chinese official media Xinhua reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said at the eighth congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea in January that the key to establishing a new U.S.-DPRK relationship is the withdrawal of the U.S. hostile policy toward North Korea.
Also on Thursday, senior U.S. and South Korean officials concluded “2+2” talks between foreign and defense ministers in Seoul. A joint statement following the meeting mentioned North Korea by name, saying that addressing the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile issues is a priority for the U.S.-South Korean alliance.
Secretary of State Blinken also said at a press conference, “We are committed to denuclearizing North Korea and reducing the broader threat that North Korea poses to the United States and our allies.”
He added that China has a key role to play in efforts to persuade North Korea to denuclearize, “It is in Beijing‘s self-interest to help denuclearize North Korea, which is a source of instability, a source of danger, and clearly a threat to us and our partners. China has a real interest in helping to resolve this issue.”
Secretary of State Blinken and White House National Security Adviser Sullivan will meet with Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee in charge of foreign affairs, and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Anchorage, Alaska, on Thursday.
One of the main topics of the U.S.-China leaders’ meeting is expected to be concerns about North Korea’s continued nuclear and missile programs. Air Force General Van Hoek, commander of the U.S. Northern Command, warned Tuesday that North Korea could begin testing an “improved” intercontinental ballistic missile in the “near future.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Thursday, “The hard-won dialogue and de-escalation on the Korean Peninsula in recent years is worth cherishing. All parties concerned should move in the same direction, work together to manage differences, actively promote dialogue and contacts, and maintain regional peace and stability. It is in the common interest of all parties to firmly advance the political settlement process on the peninsula in accordance with the ‘dual-track and parallel’ approach. China will continue to play a constructive role to this end.”
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