North Korea rules out negotiations on nuclear weapons

North Korea, on Friday, ruled out negotiations with Washington as long as joint US-South Korea military exercises continue.

In an interview with Reuters, Han Tae Song, North Korea’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, brushed off the new sanctions which the Trump administration has said it is preparing, as well as the possibility of North Korea being added to a US list of states sponsoring terrorism.

He said that Pyongyang’s atomic weapons programme would remain as a deterrent against a US nuclear threat.

South Korea and the United States agreed on Friday to keep working for a peaceful end to the North Korean nuclear crisis, but a US envoy said it was difficult to gauge the reclusive North’s intentions as there has been “no signal”.

Han, asked about those bilateral talks in Seoul, replied: “As long as there is continuous hostile policy against my country by the US and as long as there are continued war games at our doorstep, then there will not be negotiations.”

“There are continued military exercises using nuclear assets as well as aircraft carriers, and strategic bombers and then…raising such kinds of military exercises against my country,” he said.