North Korea may offer olive branch to US

By Kang Seung-woo

North Korea wants to forge a good relationship with the United States, according to a Wall Street Journal report, Thursday (local time), raising speculation that Pyongyang may return to nuclear talks with Washington.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un / Yonhap

The media outlet said the reclusive state first reached out to a European Parliament Committee days ahead of the U.S. presidential election, Nov. 3, and Lukas Mandl, head of the European Parliament delegation, had a one-hour virtual meeting with the North Korean ambassador to Berlin in December.

The report also said that the diplomat repeatedly stressed the North wanted to have good relations with the U.S. should the U.S. abandon its hostile policy against his country, but the North's stance was not negative, given that the North did not represent a darkening in its position on the incoming Joe Biden administration. Kim Jong-un has remained quiet on Biden's election.

The denuclearization negotiations between them have been deadlocked since February 2019 when a summit between President Donald Trump and Kim ended without a deal.

Some European countries close to the U.S. have tried to resuscitate the talks and the North also has embassies inside several European nations, raising expectations for a resumption of the nuclear talks.

However, given that the North has repeatedly urged the U.S. to drop its hostile policy toward the country, it remains to be seen if the Kim regime would return to the negotiating table.

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