North Korea seeks sanctions relief offer before any US talks

History shows both strategic patience and maximum pressure approaches failed

20210319 Kim Jong Un

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's regime appears reluctant to talk with the Biden administration unless Washington changes its approach on the isolated nation. © KCNA/Kyodo

GABRIELA BERNAL, Contributing writer

SEOUL -- North Korea has rejected the Biden administration's diplomatic olive branch, referring to Washington's proposal to hold talks as "hostile."

"The U.S. has tried to contact us since mid-February through several routes including New York," North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said in a statement published Thursday by the Korean Central News Agency, a state media outlet. "But we don't think there is a need to respond to the U.S. delaying time trick again."

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