Press Statement of Spokesperson for DPRK Foreign Ministry

Pyongyang, August 10 (KCNA) -- The spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea made public the following press statement on Thursday: At the first historic DPRK-U.S. summit meeting and talks, the top leaders committed to work together toward putting an end to the extremely hostile relations through confidence building and establishing new DPRK-U.S. relations in favor of the requirements and interests of the peoples of two countries and to make active contribution to peace, security, and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and over the world. Whereas we already took such practical denuclearization steps as discontinuing nuclear test and ICBM test fire, followed by dismantling the nuclear test ground since the end of last year, the U.S. insisted on its unilateral demand of "denuclearization first" at the first DPRK-U.S. high-level talks held in Pyongyang in early July. Nevertheless, for the sake of building confidence between the DRPK and the U.S., a foremost and indispensable process for implementation of the joint statement of the DPRK-U.S. summit, we took such broadminded measures as repatriating POW/MIA remains. We hoped that these goodwill measures would contribute to breaking down the high barrier of mistrust existing between the DPRK and the U.S. and to establishing mutual trust. However, the U.S. responded to our expectation by inciting international sanctions and pressure against the DPRK. The U.S. is attempting to invent a pretext for increased sanctions against the DPRK by mobilizing all their servile mouthpieces and intelligence institutions to fabricate all kinds of falsehoods on our nuclear issue. They made public the "North Korea Sanctions and Enforcement Actions Advisory" and additional sanctions, and called for collaboration in forcing sanctions and pressure upon us even at the international meetings. Worse still, the U.S. is resorting to such highly despicable actions as hindering international organizations' cooperation with our country in the field of sports and forcing other countries not to send high-level delegations to the celebrations of the 70th founding anniversary of the DPRK. Now the issue in question is that, going against the intention of president Trump to advance the DPRK-U.S. relations, who is expressing gratitude to our goodwill measures for implementing the DPRK-U.S. joint statement, some high-level officials within the U.S. administration are making baseless allegations against us and making desperate attempts at intensifying the international sanctions and pressure. Expecting any result, while insulting the dialogue partner and throwing cold water over our sincere efforts for building confidence which can be seen as a precondition for implementing the DPRK-U.S. joint statement, is indeed a foolish act that amounts to waiting to see a boiled egg hatch out. The international society is struck by this shameless and impertinent behavior of the U.S., and we also closely follow the U.S. behavior with high vigilance against their intentions. As long as the U.S. denies even the basic decorum for its dialogue partner and clings to the outdated acting script which the previous administrations have all tried and failed, one cannot expect any progress in the implementation of the DPRK-U.S. joint statement including the denuclearization, and furthermore, there is no guarantee that the hard-won atmosphere of stability on the Korean Peninsula will continue. We remain unchanged in our will to uphold the intentions of the top leaders of the DPRK and the U.S. and to build trust and implement in good faith the DPRK-U.S. joint statement step by step. The U.S. should, even at this belated time, respond to our sincere efforts in a corresponding manner. -0-