N. Korea urges Trump to make ‘wise and bold’ decision to reboot negotiations

Pyongyang has expressed hope that Donald Trump can breathe new life into stalled nuclear talks, hailing the US president as “different” from his more hardline predecessors.

Trump should make a “wise option and bold decision” to end the diplomatic deadlock between the US and North Korea, Foreign Ministry adviser Kim Kye Gwan said on Friday. He argued that future negotiations would be of little use because Washington continues to insist that Pyongyang must first give up its nuclear arsenal before receiving sanctions relief and other concessions.

Praising Trump as “different from his predecessors in a political sense,” Kim said that the US president would have to break from Washington’s conventional approach to North Korea in order for talks to successfully move forward.

“I and the DPRK Foreign Ministry will follow the future moves of the US,” he added, using the abbreviation of his country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Trump has signaled that another meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could happen soon, even suggesting that their next rendezvous could be at the White House.

While Pyongyang apparently sees Trump as someone they can work with, the same cannot be said of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Last month, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho described Pompeo as a “diehard toxin” and a “poisonous plant of American diplomacy.”

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