SEOUL: Peace and security on the Korean peninsula depend entirely on the future US attitude, North Korean state media KCNA quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as saying during his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
Kim’s remarks were viewed as keeping pressure on the United States to be more flexible in accepting Pyongyang’s demands to ease sanctions, compared to the US stance during his unsuccessful second summit with US President Donald Trump in Hanoi in February.
The North Korean leader said at the time he would wait until the end of the year for the United States to become more flexible.
“The situation on the Korean peninsula and the region is now at a standstill and has reached a critical point where it may return to its original state as the U.S. took a unilateral attitude in bad faith at the recent second DPRK-U.S. summit talks,” KCNA reported Kim as saying, using North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“The DPRK will gird itself for every possible situation.” Kim said.
Kim invited Putin to North Korea at a convenient time and Putin accepted, KCNA further said.
The first face-to-face talks between Putin and Kim, held on an island off the Russian Pacific city of Vladivostok on Thursday, did not appear to yield any major breakthrough.
The two leaders had an in-depth discussion on ways for their countries to promote strategic communication and tactical collaboration in the course of ensuring peace and security on the Korean peninsula and in the region, KCNA said.
Russia and North Korea agreed to take measures to further cooperate in trade, economy, science and technology, KCNA said.
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