North Korea wasted chance to improve relations under Trump, US envoy says
In this file photo taken on June 12, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump, right, meets with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un at the start of their U.S.-North Korea summit at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island in Singapore. AFP
Pyongyang squandered an opportunity to fundamentally reinvent its relationship with the United States during Donald Trump's presidency, Washington's top North Korea envoy said on Thursday, adding he will urge his successors to continue engagement.
Speaking to a think tank in Seoul during a visit to meet with South Korean security officials, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun admitted he was disappointed denuclearisation negotiations had stalled and that more progress was not made during his time leading those efforts.
"Regrettably, much opportunity has been squandered by our North Korean counterparts over the past two years, who too often have devoted themselves to the search for obstacles to negotiations instead of seizing opportunities for engagement," he said, according to his prepared remarks.
Still, he defended Trump's decision to focus on top-level diplomacy with leader Kim Jong Un, and to eschew small steps in favour of seeking a major agreement under which North Korea would surrender its nuclear weapons and the two sides would normalize relations.
"This vision was a bold one, and it made the many advocates of incrementalism uncomfortable," Biegun said.
Biden administration advised to recognize Singapore statement 2020-12-10 16:33 | North Korea
After trading insults and nuclear threats that had pushed their countries to the brink of war, Trump and Kim met for the first time in Singapore in 2018, where they signed a general declaration calling for denuclearisation and new relations between the two old adversaries.
After working-level talks Biegun helped lead, the two leaders held their second meeting in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi in 2019 but failed to reach a deal.
Subsequent talks failed to make progress and Pyongyang has rebuffed Biegun's calls for more engagement, saying the U.S. does not appear serious about dropping its hostile policies.
Biegun called for North Korea to resume talks in the coming months.
With Democratic president-elect Joe Biden due to replace Trump in January, Biegun said he had a message for the incoming team: "The war is over; the time for conflict has ended, and the time for peace has arrived." (Reuters)
相关推荐
-
Best Labor Day headphones deals: Apple, Bose, Beats, and more on sale
-
Tesla issues recall for 9,100 Model X cars
-
Starving artist Justin Bieber's credit card was declined at Subway
-
German food showcased at KINTEX
-
Yes, big spiders are spreading in the U.S. No, they're not flying.
-
Jabra's wireless earbuds double as heart rate monitors
- 最近发表
-
- Yoon touts pension reform drive amid stagnant popularity rating
- CrowdStrike outage is still causing hundreds of flight cancellations daily
- Tesla recalls 1.8 million cars over hood issue
- German food showcased at KINTEX
- NASA rover snaps photo of its most daunting challenge yet
- 从田头到舌尖,你的“荔枝自由”茂南来守护!(附最全采购指南)
- Oscar winner and 'Harry Potter' alum Jim Broadbent headed to 'Game of Thrones'
- NK slams Yoon's warning against Pyongyang
- Apple Intelligence is now a little easier to get outside the U.S.
- Sony's Xperia Projector turns any surface into 21
- 随机阅读
-
- Against All Odds: How Netflix Made It
- S. Korea voices woes over N. Korea's erratic behavior
- 7 amazing gaming kill streaks to make you question your skill
- S. Korea, Japan to hold defense ministers' talks next week
- Tesla considers adding a new ‘stuck detection' feature to Cybertruck. Here’s why.
- Get up to 33% off OLED TVs during Samsung OLED week
- J.K. Rowling only needed 3 tweets to turn the tables on these trolls
- In three tweets, Trump bans trans people from military service
- Game Plan
- Travis King in US custody after expulsion by N. Korea: Washington officials
- Ford can make your Mustang Mach
- US expert redoubles calls for sturdier deterrence against NK ICBM threats
- 两个改造提升项目进入收尾阶段
- 7 amazing gaming kill streaks to make you question your skill
- 7 best noise
- Smart TV deal: The 32
- Apple iPod: The First 10 Years of the Ubiquitous Media Player
- 荔枝+音乐,超赞!茂南乡村歌手唱响“爱的古荔”
- Get up to 33% off OLED TVs during Samsung OLED week
- N. Korea tries to use artificial intelligence to write malicious software: US official
- 搜索
-
- 友情链接
-