Seoul: The government hopes for a breakthrough in resuming dialogue between North Korea and the United States in the near future, the unification ministry said Thursday, amid Pyongyang's continued silence on U.S. offers for talks. "We expect the door to North Korea-U.S. dialogue to open in the not-too-distant future," a ministry official said, pledging to provide any support it can to that end.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the remarks came as expectations for the resumption of diplomacy between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during the U.S. leader's trip to South Korea this week have been dashed. Visiting South Korea from Wednesday to Thursday to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gatherings, Trump has repeatedly offered to meet Kim, but North Korea has remained tight-lipped, instead announcing the previous day the test-launch of sea-to-surface strategic cruise missiles in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday.
Asked whether the possibility of a Trump-Kim meeting had fallen through, the ministry official declined to comment, saying only that there is still time for North Korea to respond. The North's disclosure of the recent missile test, however, was "not a good signal" for the resumption of talks, the official said.