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| CENESS Director and Nuclear Club Editor-in-Chief Anton Khlopkov (left) and Choe Son-hui, Head of the North America Department of North Korea's Foreign Ministry, attend the 2017 Moscow Nonproliferation Conference at the Centre for Energy and Security Studies, Oct. 21. / Tass-Yonhap |
By Ko Dong-hwan
A North Korean diplomat says Pyongyang will not return to multilateral talks until it resolves issues with the United States, according to a source Sunday.
Choe Son-hui, director-general of the North American department of the North's foreign ministry, said the crisis on the Korean Peninsula is due to the United States' hostile policy to the North.
In a session at an international forum on nonproliferation in Moscow on Saturday, she said Pyongyang will not return to any multilateral talks, including the six-party talks, until it deals with Washington, according to the source who attended the event. She said the North will continue developing its nuclear program if the U.S. does not give up on its hostile policies toward Pyongyang.
Diplomats, former government officials and private-sector experts from about 40 countries, including South Korea that sent a deputy nuclear envoy, attended the conference. It raised expectations that the two Koreas could make contact but it did not eventuate.
Tensions have escalated since the North conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test last month, which the international community strongly condemned.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to take the "highest-level" measures against Washington as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to "totally destroy" the North if the U.S. is forced to defend itself and its allies.
