Pyongyang has voiced its regret over America’s attitude during high-level talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and accused "gangster-like" Washington of seeking unilateral and forced denuclearization from North Korea.
“We were expecting the US… to come up with constructive measures to help build confidence in the spirit of reunion and talks. However, the attitude of the US was indeed regrettable,” said a statement released by the Korean Central News Agency, citing an unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman.
"The US is fatally mistaken if it went to the extent of regarding that the (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) would be compelled to accept, out of its patience, the demands reflecting its gangster-like mindset," the statement continues.
The US betrayed the spirit of last month’s summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un by making unilateral demands on the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID) of North Korea, the statement said.
According to the North Korean official, the outcome of the follow-up talks led to a “dangerous phase that might rattle our willingness for denuclearization that had been firm.”
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The North expected that Washington “would offer constructive measures that would help build trust based on the spirit of the leaders’ summit,” the official said. “However, the attitude and stance the US showed in the first high-level meeting was regrettable,” he concluded.
It comes just hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed he had made progress “on almost all of the central issues” in his talks with Pyongyang.
“I think we made progress in every element of our discussions,” he said, according to a pool report from US journalists who accompanied him to North Korea.
“These are complicated issues but we made progress on almost all of the central issues. Some places a great deal of progress, other places there’s still more work to be done,” he continued.
Pompeo landed in Pyongyang for high-level talks with Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee, on Friday. The officials reportedly discussed a range of issues, including the return of the remains of US troops killed during the Korean War.
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