North Korea urges US to act wisely through year-end deadline

North Korea on Thursday accused US officials of maintaining hostility against Pyongyang despite a "special" relationship between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump and urged Washington to act "wisely" through the end of the year.

The statement issued by Foreign Ministry adviser Kim Kye Gwan was clearly referring to an end-of-year deadline set by Kim Jong Un for the Trump administration to offer mutually acceptable terms for a deal to salvage their diplomacy.

"Contrary to the political judgment and intention of President Trump, Washington political circles and DPRK policy makers of the US administration are hostile to the DPRK for no reason, preoccupied with the Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice," Kim Kye Gwan said in the statement, referring to North Korea by its formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"We want to see how wisely the US will pass the end of the year." Nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have faltered after the collapse of a February summit between Kim Jong Un and Trump where the US side rejected North Korean demands for broad sanctions relief in exchange for a piecemeal deal toward partially surrendering its nuclear capabilities.

The North made a series of short-range missile tests while Kim Jong Un said he would "wait with patience until the end of the year for the United States to come up with a courageous decision."
Washington and Pyongyang resumed working-level discussion in Sweden earlier this month, but the meeting broke down amid acrimony with the North Koreans calling the talks "sickening" and accusing the Americans of maintaining an "old stance and attitude."