SEOUL, Feb. 20 (UPI) — The United States should take “corresponding” measures to reward North Korea in order for the two countries to produce results that meet the expectations of the international community, a Pyongyang propaganda outlet said Wednesday in an apparent reference to next week’s summit of their leaders.
Ryomyong, a propaganda website, made the demand as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump are set to hold their second summit on Feb. 27-28 in Hanoi, Vietnam, to discuss dismantling the North’s nuclear weapons program.
The North has long claimed it has done its part under an agreement reached at June’s historic first-ever summit between Kim and Trump, such as blowing up its nuclear testing site, and that it’s the United State’s turn to take “corresponding” measures, such as sanctions relief.
“Only when North Korea and the United States move forward with strong will and active implementation will they be able to see the opening of a road toward improvement in relations and take a new path toward global peace,” Ryomyong said.
“By taking corresponding measures aimed at liquidating hostile relations between the two countries, (they) should prepare outcomes that would be in mutual interest and also meet the expectations of the international community,” it added, apparently pointing to next week’s summit.
Easing sanctions, opening liaison offices in each country and declaring a formal end to the 1950-1953 Korean War have been cited as possible concessions that the U.S. could provide in return for North Korea’s concrete denuclearization steps.
During their first-ever summit last June, the leaders agreed to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from and “new relations” with Washington.
Little progress has been made since then, with Pyongyang seeking concessions that reciprocate its steps to denuclearize and Washington demanding more concrete action.
The propaganda website emphasized that putting an end to their “deep-rooted” hostile relations is an objective “being shared by North Korea and the U.S., adding they should waste no time in building “new relations that would live up to the demand of the times.”
