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North Korea says will ignore US while ‘hostile policy’ in place
SEOUL, March 18, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – North Korea said Thursday it will ignore
all US efforts to foster contact or dialogue unless Washington changes
course, hours before President Joe Biden’s top envoys held talks in Seoul.
The comments from the North’s first vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui came
with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin in
the South for the second leg of an Asian tour to bolster a united front
against the nuclear-armed North and an increasingly assertive China.
The pair have repeatedly called for the “complete denuclearisation of North
Korea” on their trip, which began in Japan.
There could be no contact nor dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang
“unless the US rolls back its hostile policy towards the DPRK”, Choe said in
a statement carried Thursday by the official Korean Central News Agency,
referring to the North by its official name.
“Therefore, we will disregard such an attempt of the US in the future,
too.”
The “new regime” in the US, she added, had only put forward a “lunatic
theory of ‘threat from north Korea’ and groundless rhetoric about ‘complete
denuclearisation'”.
Pyongyang has closed its borders for more than a year to try to protect
itself against the coronavirus pandemic that first emerged in neighbouring
China.
It had maintained silence during the first weeks of the Biden
administration, with state media not even mentioning the new US leadership
until this week.
Blinken’s comments in Japan had “seriously rattled us”, Choe added.
“We are curious what senseless rhetoric he would make in south Korea to
take the world by surprise.”
– No response –
The US envoys held joint talks with their counterparts Thursday and were
due to meet later with President Moon Jae-in, who brokered the talks process
between Kim and then US president Donald Trump in 2018.
Blinken and Austin are consulting on a review of Washington’s policy
towards the North being carried out by the new administration.
Trump’s unorthodox approach to foreign policy saw him trade insults and
threats of war with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before an extraordinary
diplomatic bromance that saw a series of headline-grabbing meetings,
beginning in Singapore.
But ultimately no progress was made towards Washington’s declared aim of
denuclearising North Korea, with a second summit in Hanoi in early 2019
breaking up over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give
up in return.
The North remains under multiple international sanctions for its banned
weapons programmes, which it says it needs to deter a possible US invasion.
Shortly before Biden’s January inauguration, leader Kim decried the US as
his country’s “foremost principal enemy” and Pyongyang unveiled a new
submarine-launched ballistic missile at a military parade.
Choe said Thursday that for talks to take place, Pyongyang and Washington
would have to meet as equals.
“We make it clear that we won’t give it such opportunities as in Singapore
and Hanoi again,” she said.
Since mid-February, Washington has attempted to reach out to Pyongyang
“through several channels”, state department deputy spokesperson Jalina
Porter said earlier this week.
“To date, we’ve not received any response from Pyongyang,” she added.
So far, the North has refrained from carrying out any direct provocations
since Biden was inaugurated, but is now beginning to amplify its rhetoric.
Seoul and Washington are security allies and kicked off joint military
exercises last week. That prompted the North Korean leader’s influential
sister Kim Yo Jong to warn the new US administration against “causing a stink
at its first step” if it wants to “sleep in peace for coming four years”.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 0758 hrs