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North Korean Diplomat Says Pompeo's Comment on 'Rogue' Pyongyang May Stifle Dialogue With US

TOKYO (Sputnik) - Recent remarks made by US State Secretary Mike Pompeo on North Korea's "rogue behavior" make future dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang difficult, North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said on Saturday.
Sputnik

"Pompeo has gone so far in his language and it made the opening of the expected DPRK-U.S. working-level negotiations more difficult ... Our expectations of dialogue with the US are gradually disappearing and we are being pushed to re-examine all the measures we have taken so far," Choe said, as cited by North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency.

On Tuesday, Pompeo said Washington could not ignore North Korea's "rogue behavior" and listed the country among several others as a challenge that Washington faced.

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, has been engaged in dialogue with US President Donald Trump to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula for over a year. However, the talks reached a deadlock in February when a summit between the two leaders in Vietnam ended abruptly without any agreement.

In late June, Kim and Trump met again to agree on resuming the dialogue and holding working-level consultations. However, the tensions around North Korea have still been mounting over the past months amid weapons tests by Pyongyang and US-South Korean military drills, which took place earlier in August and were met with criticism from North Korea.

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