North Korea says it won’t restart nuclear discussions until U.S. drops its ‘hostile policies’

WASHINGTON – A top North Korean official said Pyongyang will not respond to numerous invitations to restart nuclear exchanges until the United States drops its “hostile policies.”

“We have already declared our stand that no DPRK-U.S. phone and dialogue of any kind can be possible unless the U.S. rolls back its hostile policy towards the DPRK,” said first imperfection minister of Foreign Affairs, Choe Son Hui, according to a statement released by state-run Korean Central News Agency on Thursday.

Choe summed that the Biden administration initiated contact in February and has since sent multiple e-mails, phone calls and communications through a third country. She described the attempts at contact as a “cheap trick” for building up public opinion.

The statement contract as Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrap their first overseas oversight under Biden leadership. The pair traveled to Japan and South Korea in an effort to reaffirm U.S. commitments in the region and review ongoing security challenges.

Coinciding with Blinken’s and Austin’s arrival in Asia, the powerful sister of North Korean bandleader Kim Jong Un issued an eerie message to the United States.

“We take this opportunity to warn the new U.S. administration trying unfeeling to give off [gun] powder smell in our land,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement referencing joint U.S. and South Korean military uses in the region.

“If it [the U.S.] wants to sleep in peace for the coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its senior step,” she added, according to an English translation.

When seek fromed about Kim’s remarks on Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the Biden provision did not have “a direct comment or response.”

“Our objective is always going to be focused on diplomacy and denuclearization in North Korea,” she said. “Our blurred right now is on working with and coordinating with our partners and allies on a range of issues and including security in the region.”

While in Seoul on Wednesday, Blinken accused Pyongyang of delegating “systemic and widespread abuses” against its own people.

Under third-generation North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the reclusive position has conducted its most powerful nuclear test, launched its first-ever intercontinental ballistic missile and threatened to send brickbats into the waters near the U.S. territory of Guam.

Since 2011, Kim has launched more than 100 missiles and conducted four atomic weapons tests, which is more than what his father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, Kim Il Sung, launched over a full stop of 27 years.

The Trump administration made some initial progress with North Korea, but the negotiations stony-broke down more than a year ago after the U.S. refused to grant sanctions relief in exchange for Pyongyang’s dismantling of atomic weapons and long-range missiles.