City
Epaper

N.Korea rebuffs US talk offer, says it may be a 'trick'

By IANS | Updated: November 15, 2019 09:20 IST

North Korean nuclear negotiator Kim Myong-gil said Washington recently proposed holding a new working meeting in December but rebuffed it, saying that the message through a third party "amplifies doubts" and was possibly a "trick".

Open in App

"I cannot understand why he (US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Beigun) spreads the so-called idea of North Korea-US relations through the third party, not thinking of candidly making direct contact with me, his dialog partner," Kim said in a statement run by North Korean state news agency KCNA on Friday.

"His behaviour only amplifies doubts about the US," he said.

Kim added that if Washington has a solution to the stalled talks, then it can be presented directly to Pyongyang, but that he felt Washington did not have a "satisfactory answer" and the proposal for a meeting was "a trick to earn time", Efe news quoted KCNA as saying.

"Explicitly speaking once again, I am not interested in such a meeting," he said.

However, Kim said that if Washington was serious, Pyongyang was "ready to meet with the US at any place and any time", but if "the US still seeks a sinister aim of appeasing us in a bid to pass the time limit - the end of this year - with ease as it did during the North Korea-US working-level negotiations in Sweden early in October, we have no willingness to have such negotiations".

The Stockholm meeting in early October was held to try to break the stalled talks since the failed February summit in Hanoi, where Washington considered Pyonyang's offer regarding the dismantling of its nuclear assets insufficient and refused to lift the sanctions on the regime.

In Sweden, the meeting closed with Pyongyang accusing Washington of not offering anything new and insisted that the White House has until the end of year to modify its negotiating strategy.

Experts believe that if there were no breakthroughs, North Korea could choose to conduct new weapons tests, especially of intermediate-range missiles, as a strategy to pressure Washington and its allies in the region.

( With inputs from IANS )

Tags: washingtonusNorth KoreaKIMpyongyang
Open in App

Related Stories

BusinessGlobal Tech Firms Eye India for Manufacturing Amid US-China Tensions

InternationalIllinois Plane Crash: 4 Killed After Cessna C180G Aircraft Goes Down After Hitting Power Lines in Trilla

NationalPM Narendra Modi Discusses Tech and Innovation Collaboration With Elon Musk

InternationalCalifornia Shooting: 6 People Injured in Firing Outside Barbershop in Stockton

Social ViralA US Woman Flies to an Andhra Pradesh Village To Meet Her Instagram Boyfriend (Watch Video)

International Realted Stories

InternationalManipur's home-grown talent, Yaoreishim from Ukhrul district, showcases intricate leather craftsmanship, has big ambitions

InternationalIranian FM speaks with Pakistan's deputy PM, urges restraint amid India-Pakistan tensions

InternationalThose celebrating killings don't deserve water: Sirsa welcomes India's tough measures post-J&K terror attack

InternationalKailash Manasarovar Yatra set to resume in June 2025 after three-year hiatus

InternationalPakistan open for 'neutral, transparent and credible investigation' into Pahalgam terror attack: PM Shehbaz Sharif