Seoul : North Korea slammed US National Security Advisor John Bolton on Monday, calling him a “human defect” that had to be banished, just as President Donald Trump offered a positive outlook on relations with Pyongyang.
Talks between Washington and Pyongyang have been deadlocked since the collapse of a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi in February when they failed to agree a deal on denuclearisation.
The North has since sought to raise the pressure and carried out two short-range missile tests earlier this month. Bolton said Saturday there was “no doubt” they violated UN Security Council resolutions against ballistic missile launches, but insisted Washington was still ready to resume talks. A spokesman for the North’s foreign ministry dismissed Bolton’s remarks, saying Pyongyang had never accepted the UN bans on ballistic technology, which denied its “rights as a sovereign nation”.
“Bolton said our regular military drills violated UNSC resolutions, which is beyond stupid,” he said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
