North Korea may back out of nuclear talks

North Korea is considering suspending diplomatic talks with the United States and lifting its halt on nuclear tests unless the United States adopts some complementary concessions, a senior North Korean official said Friday. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton created an “atmosphere of hostility and mistrust” that resulted in failed talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their last summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said. North Korea wanted the United States to remove all sanctions against its economy, but U.S. officials said the move could eventually subsidize the North’s nuclear activity and reiterated calls for complete denuclearization.

Choe said the country will not agree to further talks unless the United States offers more compromises. “I want to make it clear that the gangster-like stand of the U.S. will eventually put the situation in danger,” she said. “We have neither the intention to compromise with the U.S. in any form nor much less the desire or plan to conduct this kind of negotiation.”