AFP, SEOULThe top US representative in talks with North Korea yesterday slammed Pyongyang’s demands as hostile and unnecessary as its end-of-year deadline approaches, but held open the door for fresh negotiations. The North has insisted that Washington offer it new concessions by the end of the year, with the process largely deadlocked since the collapse of a summit in Hanoi in February. Tensions between the US and the nuclear-armed North reached a peak in 2017, with US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un trading mutual insults and threats of renewed conflict. A rapid diplomatic detente followed, climaxing with the Singapore summit, when the two men signed a vague statement on denuclearization, but Washington still stations 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect its ally. Directly addressing “our counterparts in North Korea,” Biegun added: “It is time for us to do our jobs.

Source: Taipei Times December 16, 2019 15:56 UTC