The United States and North Korea met a dead end on talks over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program after Washington refused to change its stance on nuclear policy in the state.
North Korea said that it would consider reviewing its nuclear weapons program only after the US drops its “hostile” policy towards the state. The announcement was made during a closed-door meeting between US special envoy Clifford Hart and North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the UN Han Son-ryol, along with Choe Son-hui, deputy director general of the North American affairs bureau in Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry, on the sidelines of six-party talks.
“No progress was made toward resuming negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear program,” bi-monthly magazine Foreign Policy said.
The Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue, involving the US, North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia, seeks to find a peaceful resolution to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
This comes after North Korea warned the US that it is well within the range of its missiles after an accord with South Korea allowed Seoul to acquire longer-range missiles that could hit “all of North Korea”.
