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The United States looks forward to sitting down with the leadership of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for nuclear talks, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday after Pyongyang slammed Pompeo for urging the international community to maintain sanctions on the country.
In a telephone briefing with Yonhap News Agency and other Asian news outlets, the secretary said President Donald Trump has made clear that international sanctions on the DPRK must continue until it takes steps to denuclearize.
"The president's position on North Korea (DPRK) and mine have been in lockstep since the very first day I became secretary of state," he said, responding to the DPRK's complaint that Pompeo was going against the will of Trump, who recently offered assistance with the coronavirus pandemic in a letter to DPRK leader Kim Jong-un, according to Yonhap.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses a news conference on the current state of the coronavirus pandemic at the State Department in Washington, U.S., March 17, 2020. /Reuters
"We have been trying very diligently from the American side since (the June 2018 Singapore summit between Trump and Kim) to move forward with those negotiations and hope that we will get an opportunity to do that," he said, noting that the leaders agreed to denuclearize the DPRK and create a "brighter future" for the DPRK people at the summit.
"President Trump has also been clear, until we get to that point, till we get to the point where we have made sufficient progress along the way, the sanctions – not American sanctions, but U.N. Security Council resolutions – will continue to be enforced and in place," he continued.
"And we hope that we will get this opportunity to sit down with the North Korean leadership again and begin to chart a path forward to a brighter future for the North Korean people. It's been President Trump's position since we began our efforts."
Pompeo told Yonhap that the U.S. stands by its offer to help the DPRK fight the new coronavirus. Pompeo last week told the Group of Seven nations to "stay committed to applying diplomatic and economic pressure" over Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs while calling on the nuclear-armed state to return to talks.
The DPRK on Monday called Pompeo's remarks "ludicrous" and said "we will walk our way."
Negotiations have been deadlocked over sanctions relief and what the DPRK would be willing to give up in return since a summit between Kim and Trump broke down in Vietnam over a year ago. The DPRK is under multiple sanctions from the United Nations, the United States, and others over its banned weapons programs.
(CGTN)
