發布日期:2023-01-18 20:48:59
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui. Yonhap
North Korea feels no need to meet with the United States for talks, a top diplomat of the reclusive nation said Saturday, accusing Washington of taking advantage of dialogue between the two countries as "a tool for grappling (with) its (own) political crisis."
First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui made the remarks as talk of another summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un surfaced recently after President Moon Jae-in said he would push for such a meeting to happen before November's U.S. presidential election.
Former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton also said Trump could meet with Kim if he believes a summit would help his reelection chances. Such a meeting would be an "October surprise" just before the election, he said.
"Now is a very sensitive time when even the slightest misjudgment and misstep would incur fatal and irrevocable consequences. We cannot but be shocked at the story about the summit indifferent to the present situation of the DPRK-U.S. relations," Choe said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency in English.
The U.S. would be mistaken if it still thinks "negotiations would still work on us," Choe said, adding the North has already "worked out detailed strategic timetable for putting under control the long-term threat from the U.S."