South Korea’s first vice foreign minister Choi Jong-kun said Wednesday that he remains sanguine about the prospects of a breakthrough with Pyongyang despite North Korea’s latest rejection of talks with the U.S.

Choi is one of President Moon Jae-in’s top North Korea officials and played a key role in crafting the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement.

“I think what the North Koreans are trying to say is a simple thing — ‘we heard you,’” said Choi at a policy forum in Seoul. “This is not bad, because they didn’t kick the ball away.”

The vice foreign minister added that South