North Korea Draws a Line Despite Trump's Repeated Outreach

[Anchor]

North Korea has stated that it will respond with tough and uncompromising measures to the United States hostile policy to the end. This comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed a willingness to engage in dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, effectively drawing a line against it.

Reporter Kim Ayeong examines North Korea's inner thoughts.

[Reporter]

North Korea released a statement through a spokesperson for its Foreign Ministry today, claiming that "the confrontational stance of the United States has been clearly manifested recently."

It cited three grounds for its claim: a U.S. State Department spokesperson's remark on the 26th that "the United States remains committed to the denuclearization of North Korea," the mention of North Korea's human rights abuses that same day, and the scheduled holding of the South Korea-U.S.-Japan joint exercise "Freedom Edge" next month.

The argument is that the U.S. hostile policy toward North Korea has not changed.

At the same time, it issued a warning that there is not the slightest change in its policy toward the United States, which is to respond with the utmost hardness to the end.

North Korea's condition for improving North Korea-U.S. relations is the withdrawal of the hostile policy toward Pyongyang.

This statement effectively pointed out the elements of the hostile policy one by one, which can also be interpreted as a complaint that while U.S. President Donald Trump is sending out overtures to them, there is not much change at the U.S. administration level.

[Interview / Yang Moo-jin / Professor Emeritus, University of North Korean Studies]
"Positions have not yet been fully aligned between President Trump and the officials. Scraping is necessary. (I think) it contains an indirect message asking (President Trump) to step in directly."

The statement also included a notable remark: "Illusionary obsession with the past cannot hold onto reality or restrain the future." This is interpreted as an assertion that the starting point for North Korea-U.S. dialogue is not denuclearization, but rather the recognition of their already-developed nuclear capabilities.

(Video Editing: Jeon Min-gyu)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.