FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “North Korea’s deputy U.N. envoy said on Friday [5-19-17] that the United States needed to roll back its “hostile policy” toward the country before there could be talks between the pair.
‘As everybody knows, the Americans have gestured (toward) dialogue,’ North Korea’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Kim In Ryong told reporters on Friday. ‘But what is important is not words, but actions.’
‘The rolling back of the hostile policy toward DPRK is the prerequisite for solving all the problems in the Korean Peninsula,’ he said. ‘Therefore, the urgent issue to be settled on Korean Peninsula is to put a definite end to the U.S. hostile policy toward DPRK, the root cause of all problems.’
North Korea, also known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), has vowed to develop a missile mounted with a nuclear warhead that can strike the mainland United States, saying the program is necessary to counter U.S. aggression.
U.S. President Donald Trump warned in an interview with Reuters in late April that a ‘major, major conflict’ with the North was possible, but he said he would prefer a diplomatic outcome to the dispute over its nuclear and missile programs.”
-Michelle Nicholas, “North Korea says U.S. has to roll back ‘hostile policy’ before talks,” Reuters, May 19, 2017 1:12pm