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| U.S. President Donald Trump poses with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their first summit on Sentosa Island in Singapore, June 12, 2018. AP-Yonhap |
By Yi Whan-woo
North Korea said Friday it will not talk with the United States if it sticks to hostile policies, casting doubt over the future of their denuclearization dialogue on the second anniversary of the first summit in Singapore between the leaders of the two countries.
In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Foreign Minister Ri Son-gon said the North would never again gift U.S. President Trump with high-profile meetings and concessions he could boast of as foreign policy achievements unless it "receives something substantial."
Ri said the North would instead build up its military force "to counter U.S. threats."
The statement comes after Pyongyang began ratcheting up its rhetoric and measures against both Seoul and Washington. This week, it severed all official cross-border communication lines with the South, and threatened to disrupt the U.S. presidential election in November if Washington did not stay out of inter-Korean affairs.
"The question is whether there will be a need to keep holding hands shaken in Singapore, as we see that there is nothing of factual improvement to be made in the DPRK-U.S. relations simply by maintaining personal relations between our supreme leadership and the U.S. President," Ri said. "Never again will we provide the U.S. chief executive with another package to be used for achievements without receiving any returns.
He accused the Trump administration of just trying to score political points, while threatening the North with preemptive nuclear strikes and regime change.
"What stands out is that the hope for improved DPRK-U.S. relations ― which was high in the air under the global spotlight two years ago ― has now been shifted into despair," he said.
Ri added that nothing was more hypocritical than an empty promise and the "secure strategic goal" of the North was to "build up more reliable force to cope with the long-term military threats from the U.S."
In response, the U.S. Department of State said Washington remained committed to dialogue with Pyongyang and was open to a "flexible approach to reach a balanced agreement."
Experts said Pyongyang, in spite of the rhetoric, does not intend to scrap the denuclearization dialogue.
They pointed out that Ri's statement was not carried in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, one of the few news sources the North Korean public have access to.
"I would say the North still has left room for negotiation with the U.S., although it will continue to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles," said Cho Sung-ryul, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS).
Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, speculated that talks could be possible "on the three-year anniversary of the summit.
"This is because the U.S. will be busy with the presidential election and it may take some time to put ties with the North back on track," he said.
