North Korea said Saturday there will be no talks with the United States if they come with any "preconditions," reasserting that it has no intent to abandon its nuclear and missile programs in exchange for dialogue with Washington.
"We are willing to resolve the issue peacefully and diplomatically through dialogue and negotiation, but we will never beg for talks nor will we avoid the military option that the US rambles on about," a spokesman of the North's foreign ministry was quoted as saying by the Korean Central News Agency, the state mouthpiece.
The comment comes in response to a remark by US President Donald Trump late last month that he would only want to talk to Pyongyang under the "right conditions." Washington has made it clear that steps by North Korea toward denuclearization should be the basis of any dialogue between the two countries.
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(Yonhap) |
