PYONGYANG, February 26. /TASS/. North Korea is ready to normalize relations with the United States but this depends on Washington, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said.
"We are and will be fully prepared for any confrontation with the United States and will remain committed to our very firm stance as the unchanging basis of our policy towards Washington. However, if the United States respects the current status of our state, as enshrined in the DPRK Constitution, and abandons its hostile policy towards the DPRK, we will have no reason not to seek closer ties with them," he said at the 9th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea, which was held from February 19 through 25.
"If the United States doesn’t abandon its customary approach to us and sticks to its confrontational stance, we will continue to respond in a symmetrical manner. We have the means and methods to do so," the North Korean leader emphasized.
"The future of relations between North Korea and the United States fully depends on the United States’ approaches. We are ready for both peaceful co-existence, and an eternal confrontation. The choice is not up to us," he added.