ugc_banner

If US responds to denuclearisation with trustworthy measures, relations will develop fast: North Korea

Reuters
Geneva, SwitzerlandUpdated: Jan 29, 2019, 04:37 PM IST
main img
US President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un shake hands following a signing ceremony during their historic summit at the Capella hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore. Photograph:(AFP)

Story highlights

"If the US responds to our efforts with trustworthy measures and corresponding practical actions, bilateral relations will develop wonderfully at a fast pace through the process of taking more definite and epoch-making steps," he said.

North Korea said on Tuesday that relations with the United States will develop "wonderfully at a fast pace" if Washington responds to its efforts on denuclearisation with trustworthy measures and practical actions.

North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Han Tae Song, also told the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament that Pyongyang would continue working to establish a "permanent and durable peace mechanism on the Korean peninsula".

The summit last June between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump had brought about a dramatic turn in relations that had been "the most hostile on earth" and contributed to ensuring peace and security on the divided peninsula, Han said.

He referred to the two leaders' joint statement issued after their meeting in Singapore and Kim's New Year's Address, adding:

"Accordingly we declared that we would neither make and test nuclear weapons any longer nor use and proliferate them and we have taken various practical measures.

"If the US responds to our efforts with trustworthy measures and corresponding practical actions, bilateral relations will develop wonderfully at a fast pace through the process of taking more definite and epoch-making steps," he said.

Han told Reuters that he had no information on a possible upcoming second summit between Kim and Trump.

South Korea's foreign minister told Reuters at Davos last week that North Korea must make concrete pledges toward curbing its nuclear weapons programme, such as dismantling its main nuclear complex and allowing international inspections to confirm the process, when leader Kim meets Trump as soon as next month.