Another "Love Letter"?

[Klondyke]

North Korea calls Pompeo 'diehard toxin,' says ready for dialogue or standoff with U.S.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea’s top diplomat said on Friday that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was a “diehard toxin” who only complicates denuclearisation talks and North Korea was ready for both dialogue and standoff.

Talks aimed at dismantling the North’s nuclear and missile programs have stalled since a failed second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi in February.

Trump and Kim met again in June at the inter-Korean border and agreed to reopen working-level negotiations, but that has not happened.

Since the Vietnam summit, North Korea has demanded that Pompeo be replaced with a “more mature” person, while lauding the rapport built between Kim and Trump.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, who took part in the Hanoi summit along with Pompeo, called the chief U.S. negotiator the “diehard toxin of the U.S. diplomacy” who employs “hackneyed sanctions rhetoric”.

Ri referred to Pompeo’s remarks in recent press interviews in which he said sanctions would be kept until North Korea takes concrete actions on denuclearisation.

“He is truly impudent enough to utter such thoughtless words which only leave us disappointed and skeptical as to whether we can solve any problem with such a guy,” Ri said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.
Ri also accused Pompeo of casting “dark shadows” over the talks and being more interested in his political ambitions than in U.S. foreign policy.

“If the U.S. still dreams a pipe dream of gaining everything through sanctions, we are left with two options, either to leave it enjoying the dream to its heart’s content or to wake it up from the dream,” Ri said.

“We are ready for both dialogue and standoff.”

U.S. envoy Stephen Biegun, who leads working-level talks with North Korea, was in Seoul this week to discuss ways to get negotiations back on track.

Talks were expected to be reopened soon, South Korea’s deputy national security adviser Kim Hyun-chong said on Thursday, giving an upbeat assessment after meeting Biegun.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-n...-idUSKCN1VD03G

[Klondyke]

Trump says U.S. has really good relationship with North Korea

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday the United States has a really good relationship with North Korea and that the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has been “pretty straight” with him.


“Kim Jong Un has been ... pretty straight with me,” Trump told reporters at the White House after North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast, according to the South Korean military.


(This story corrects word in Trump quote to “pretty” from “very”, paragraph 2)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-n...-idUSKCN1VE055