N Korea says 'window of opportunity' for outcome of talks with US
North Korea says the window of opportunity for normalizing ties with the United States is getting smaller, and that Pyongyang expects some steps in this direction from Washington by the end of the year.
The remarks were made on Friday by Jo Chol-su, the head of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's North American department.
"We've given the United States quite a lot of time and we're waiting for an answer by the end of this year, or some kind of result," he said.
"But I must say that the window of opportunity closes every day," he went on to say.
"We see hostile acts in the US policies, we witnessed military drills which were held by the United States and South Korea. All of these creates constant tension in the region," the diplomat said.
Last year, Washington and Seoul canceled the combined air exercise known as Vigilant Ace amid a diplomatic thaw with the North, which considers them a rehearsal for invasion.
But Pentagon spokesman David Eastburn said this week that the US had "no plans to skip upcoming combined exercises" this year.
In his Friday comments, the North Korean diplomat also warned that "the United States is on track to pay a heavy price for suffering and misery caused by them" to North Korean people.
"If the United States will not do some conciliatory gestures, will not reduce the level of hostility, it would be their biggest mistake. The future of the Korean Peninsula depends largely on the actions of the United States."
Negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have been gridlocked since the Hanoi summit between North Korea’s leader Kim Jung-un and US President Donald Trump broke up in February amid disagreement over sanctions relief and what the North would be willing to give up in return.
The American and North Korean leaders agreed in June to resume denuclearization talks that stalled after a failed summit in Vietnam in February.
The two countries' officials met for the first time since that decision in Stockholm last month.
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