TOKYO, March 18. /TASS/. The United States has tried to establish contact with North Korea several time but each of such attempts was turned down by Pyongyang, North Korea’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said on Thursday.
"The U.S. has tried to contact us since mid-February through several routes including New York," she said in a statement released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "But we don't think there is need to respond to the U.S. delaying-time trick again."
"No DPRK-U.S. contact and dialogue of any kind can be possible unless the U.S. rolls back its hostile policy towards the DPRK," stressed the North Korean senior diplomat. "In order for a dialogue to be made, an atmosphere for both parties to exchange words on an equal basis must be created."
A senior US administration official told TASS on March 13 that Washington had been trying to "reach out to the North Korean government through several channels" since mid-February but had received no response. The US new administration de-facto signaled earlier it had no plans to rely on a direct bilateral dialogue with North Korea for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The White House said in January that the current US administration led by President Joe Biden planned to draft a new North Korea strategy and would seek to contain Pyongyang.