North Korea's foreign minister Ri Yong-ho concludes week-long stay in New York

  • 5 years ago
North Korea's top diplomat has wrapped up his week-long stay in New York for the UN General Assembly.
Compared to last year, it was a rather harmonious atmosphere,... but North Korea's push for a declaration to end the Korean War raged on.
And amid the current stalemate...., it seems the North has not yet responded to Washington's proposal to meet in Vienna.
Lee Ji-won reports.
North Korea's Foreign Affairs Minister Ri Yong-ho departed on a plane home on Monday.
It's been a week since he arrived in New York for the UN General Assembly, where he held bilateral talks with the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
It was an unusually busy schedule for Pyeongyang's top diplomat, and many watchers say it reflects the recent positive developments on the Korean Peninsula.
But still, North Korea continued to press the U.S. to take reciprocal measures for the regime's denuclearization steps.

"We have not yet seen the United States take corresponding measures for our actions. On the contrary, it is going against declaring an end to the Korean War and only toughening sanctions to force us to denuclearize first, instead of meeting our concerns for lack of stable peace on the peninsula."

North Korea's request for a political declaration to end the Korean War continued on Tuesday as well.
In a report through its state-run Korean Central News Agency,... Pyeongyang said ending the war is not something to be bargained... and it should've been done decades ago.
It added the move stands as the basis for building new North Korea-U.S. relations,... but said that, if the U.S. doesn't want to end the war, then the North (quote)"won't particularly hope for it."

With the stalemate, watchers say it seems North Korea has not yet responded to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's invitation to meet the U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun in Vienna at the "earliest opportunity."
The Austrian capital is home to the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose experts are likely to be invited to the North should Pyeongyang keep its promise to dismantle its Dongchang-ri missile engine test-site as mentioned in the Pyeongyang Declaration.

But with Pompeo set to make his fourth visit to Pyeongyang sometime this month, many are hopeful the North and the U.S. will make some progress in their talks and also seal a deal for their proposed second summit.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.

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