North Korea urged the Trump administration on Monday to ignore U.S. hardliners and media coverage casting doubt on Pyongyang’s intention to achieve denuclearization during bilateral negotiations.
The message was delivered in a state media article published by Arirang-Meari, which criticized U.S. intelligence and American media outlets for creating the public opinion that the DPRK was expanding its WMD facilities and had no intention to abandon its nuclear weapons.
The article said the Trump administration should ignore such messages in order to “build the new future of peace and prosperity breaking with the 70-year past dominated by distrust and confrontation.“
“The creation of new things is always accompanied by a struggle against old things, and innovations always go with hindrance,” the Arirang-Meari Korean-language report read on Monday.
“[The U.S.] should resolve pending issues with a new perspective and way while boldly breaking with the old things, and shouldn’t walk on eggshells around the opposing party and those who oppose to dialogue,” it added.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in Singapore on June 12 for a much-anticipated summit after a year of extreme tensions in 2017.
A resulting joint-declaration, while scant on details, broadly reaffirmed Pyongyang’s commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and committed Washington to security guarantees in return.
While Arirang-Meari did not mention any media reports by name, since June 12, multiple outlets have reported on developments with regard to North Korea’s WMD programs that have raised questions about the DPRK’s intentions.
In late-June, the Washington Post reported that the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) had concluded that Pyongyang doesn’t intend to fully abandon its nuclear weapons, while NBC reported that Pyongyang had actually boosted its production of enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.
On July 1, the Wall Street Journal – citing satellite imagery – reported on the apparent completion of a key missile-manufacturing plant in the North Korean city of Hamhung in South Hamgyong Province.
Additionally, The Diplomat magazine exclusively reported on Friday that it had located a covert North Korean uranium enrichment facility – known as Kangson – in the immediate vicinity of Pyongyang.
Arirang-Meari says the media coverage shedding doubt on the North’s willingness to denuclearize was being used by politicians with conservative tendencies to influence the Trump administration.
The article claims that the U.S. government has already cited such reports as a means to “pressure Pyongyang” during bilateral negotiations. It also said such reports have been used by conservatives to call for the resumption of the recently suspended U.S.-ROK joint military exercises.
Such “impure public opinion is just canard spread by naysayers on the dialogue within the U.S. society which can secure their interests only when the status of war between the North and the U.S. and military tensions are maintained,” the article read.
The messaging was somewhat of a theme over the weekend with two other North Korean outlets – DPRK Today and Uriminzokkiri – filing similar reports criticizing U.S. media for raising doubts about the North’s intention to fulfill its commitment for denuclearization.
While Arirang-Maeri did not identify specific outlets, the other reported did cite NBC, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Diplomat directly.
Featured Image: The U.S. State Department
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