Dialogue chances will disappear unless 3rd Trump-Kim meeting takes place this year: pro-N.K. paper

All News 14:13 November 13, 2019

By Oh Seok-min

SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Yonhap) -- The chances of dialogue between North Korea and the United States will disappear unless another summit between their leaders takes place by the end of this year, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper said Wednesday.

North Korea has pressed the U.S. to come up with new proposals by the end of the year amid a lack of progress in their negotiations on the North's nuclear weapons program. So far, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held two rounds of bilateral talks.

"North Korea is waiting for a courageous decision from the U.S. with patience, while being prepared to take 'a new path' which was declared in (Kim Jong-un's) New Year's address," the Japan-based Choson Sinbo in its article.

The North's leader gave the U.S. until the end of the year to put forward a new proposal that could break the deadlock in their nuclear talks after February's summit with Trump fell apart due to differences over how to exchange Pyongyang's denuclearization measures for Washington's sanctions relief.

"The chances of dialogue will disappear unless a third summit takes place by then," the paper said.

The North carried out a series of tests of newly developed weapons because an "unstable situation" was created on the Korean Peninsula, the paper said, adding that the most realistic way of deterring the threat of war is to "secure mighty military power."

The North's test-launch on Oct. 2 of a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), the Pukguksong-3, was aimed to "strongly urge the U.S. to wisely choose either dialogue or confrontation," the newspaper said.

It also warned that the North's latest version of a "super-large" multiple rocket launcher can reach the U.S. military base in South Korea's city of Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, and claimed that it is capable of launching a precision strike against such military facilities without causing harm to civilians.