AFP |
The US State Department said Tuesday that North Korea’s overall program of weapons of mass destruction violated UN resolutions after President Donald Trump brushed off recent missile launches.
Choosing words carefully after Trump’s latest warm words for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus declined to say if North Korea’s launches were of ballistic missiles or constituted weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
“I think the entire North Korean WMD program, it’s in conflict with the UN Security (Council) resolutions,” Ortagus told reporters. She said the United States wanted a favorable relationship between Trump and Kim with a goal to “negotiate a peaceful end to the North Korean WMD program.”
US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus stressed that Washington wants to continue denuclearization dialogue with North Korea. She stressed, “That’s our focus here”.
“We have said many times and we will continue to reiterate that the economic sanctions will remain in place until we’re there,” she said.
US President Donald Trump emphasized that there had been “no nuclear tests, no ballistic missiles going out, no long-range missiles going out” and even hinted that one day, the US could even enter a deal with North Korea to bring an end to its nuclear programme.
Ms Ortagus, in response to a question on whether US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in agreement with John Bolton and US President Trump, replied, as reported by Straits Times, “I don’t think it was lost on any of us that the launches were an attempt to send a message to the administration.”
Read more: Donald Trump remains clueless as North Korea undergoes missile tests again
US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus stressed that Washington wants to continue denuclearization dialogue with North Korea. She stressed, “That’s our focus here”.
John Bolton a War Monger: North Korea
When he arrived in Japan for a weekend state visit, Trump tweeted that North Korea had tested “some small weapons” that had “disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me.” He appeared to be referring to his National Security Advisor John Bolton, who said Saturday there was “no doubt” that North Korea’s launches had contravened United Nations Security Council resolutions.
US President Donald Trump emphasized that there had been “no nuclear tests, no ballistic missiles going out, no long-range missiles going out” and even hinted that one day.
North Korea wasted no time piling onto Bolton, who has long promoted a hawkish foreign policy, calling him a “human defect” and “war maniac.”
In a statement issued on Monday, North Korea maintained that US National Security Advisor Bolton is “more than ignorant” and stressed that giving up the right to test new missiles and develop new nuclear weapons is equivalent to giving up a country’s right to self defence, adding that “whatever is launched is bound to fly drawing a ballistic trajectory”.
Times reported that an unnamed official from North Korean Foreign Ministry labelled John Bolton a “war monger” and “defective human product” after Bolton’s accusations that North Korea’s recent tests of short-range missiles violate UN Security Council resolutions.
Read more: Bolton is ‘Human Defect’; N. Korea slams after Hanoi summit failure
North Korea has previously called for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to be excluded from negotiations after he apparently pressed Trump at his February summit with Kim in Hanoi not to accept sanctions relief without further action by Pyongyang in ending its nuclear program.
AFP with additional input by GVS news desk.