World: North Korea conveyed that it will continue ignoring US contact unless it withdraws ‘hostile policies’ towards Pyongyang. According to Yonhap News Agency, North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui confirmed in a statement that the US reached out to Pyongyang even the day before its combined exercises with South Korea from a ‘third country’.
An official statement by Choe read,” we have already made our point clear that no North Korea- US contact or talks will be held unless the US withdraws hostile policies to us and that we will continue to ignore its attempts to reach out to us.
This reply came after US State Secretary Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Seoul for 2+2 talks with their South Korean counterparts to coordinate a joint approach towards North Korea.
She further slammed recent attempts by the US to reach out to the North as excuses for Washington to “buy time,” and warned that it will not grant any more opportunities for talks, such as the Singapore summit in June 2018 and the Hanoi summit the following year. She criticized President Joe Bidens’ system for assuming additional sanctions and “pressure measures” against Pyongyang.
South Korea and the US on Thursday are set to wrap up their nine-day springtime combined military exercise staged in a scaled-back manner due to the coronavirus pandemic, despite calls by North Korea to end the joint military drills.