No meeting with the US till it ends "hostile policy": North Korea

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Seoul, Oct 6 (IANS) North Korea, after a failed round of talks this weekend in Stockholm, on Sunday said that it will not meet the United States again until it puts a stop to its "hostile policy."

In a statement published by state agency KCNA, a representative of the North Korean government accused Washington of using the talks for its own domestic interests, and dismissed an affirmation that both sides would meet again in two weeks as "ungrounded."

The spokesperson said the US had brought nothing new to the talks and warned an agreement between both sides could be abandoned if the Americans continued to rely on old way of working - a reference to a bilateral commitment reached in Singapore in 2018 on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, Efe news reported.

What happened next depended on the attitude of the US and the time limit was the end of the year, the statement warned.

The message from Pyongyang came hours after a North Korean delegation that participated in the meetings in Stockholm said the dialogue with Washington on nuclear disarmament had been suspended.

North Korea's leader negotiator, Kim Myong-gil, said the talks had been broken off because the US had been inflexible on its position.

The US Department of State, on the other hand, said talks had been "good" and Washington was planning to attend another meeting in two weeks.

The Stockholm talks had been shrouded in secrecy, a possible sign that both parties wanted to avoid drawing too much media attention, as well as break the blockade after the breakdown of the summit in Hanoi back in February.

In Vietnam, North Korea asked for gradual nuclearisation in exchange for the relaxing of sanctions, but the White House considered this unacceptable and wants the process of disarmament to take place immediately.

--IANS

rt/vd