Kim Jong Un is considering suspending talks with the United States and may rethink a ban on missile and nuclear tests unless Washington makes concessions, a senior North Korean diplomat was quoted as saying Friday.
Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui blamed top U.S. officials for the breakdown of last month's summit in Hanoi between President Donald Trump and Kim, Russia's Tass news agency reported.
"We have no intention to yield to the U.S. demands (at the Hanoi summit) in any form, nor are we willing to engage in negotiations of this kind," Tass quoted Choe as telling reporters in the North Korean capital. ...
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton "created the atmosphere of hostility and mistrust and, therefore, obstructed the constructive effort for negotiations between the supreme leaders of North Korea and the United States," Tass quoted Choe as saying.
Kim is set to make an official announcement soon on his position on the denuclearization talks with the U.S. and the North's further actions, it added.
Choe said Washington threw away a golden opportunity at the summit and warned that Kim might rethink a moratorium on missile launches and nuclear tests, the Associated Press reported.
"I want to make it clear that the gangster-like stand of the U.S. will eventually put the situation in danger," the AP quoted her as saying.
But she added: "Personal relations between the two supreme leaders are still good and the chemistry is mysteriously wonderful."
I hadn't heard about this group. They claim to be hiding the son of Kim Jong Nam, Kim Jong Un's exiled half brother who was assassinated.
quote:
Days before President Trump was set to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam, a mysterious incident in Spain threatened to derail the entire high-stakes nuclear summit.
In broad daylight, masked assailants infiltrated North Korea’s embassy in Madrid, tied up the staff, stole computers and mobile phones, and fled the scene in two luxury vehicles.
The group behind the late February operation is known as Cheollima Civil Defense, a secretive dissident organization committed to overthrowing the Kim dynasty, people familiar with the planning and execution of the mission told The Washington Post.
The group’s alleged role in the attack has not previously been reported, and officials from the governments of North Korea, the United States and Spain declined to comment on it.
But in recent days, rumors about the motivations behind the attack have swirled in the Spanish media, including a report in El Pais alleging that two of the masked assailants have ties to the CIA.
People familiar with the incident say the group did not act in coordination with any governments. U.S. intelligence agencies would have been especially reluctant to be involved, given the sensitive timing and brazen nature of the mission. But the raid represents the most ambitious operation to date for an obscure organization that seeks to undermine the North Korean regime and encourage mass defections, they say.
