Hopes for talks fade amid fury over Pompeo

SEOUL — A senior North Korean diplomat y berated U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday over his comments describing North Korean behavior as “rogue” and warned that Pyongyang’s hopes for talks with Washington are fading.

In a statement carried by state media, North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said Pompeo’s “thoughtless” comments increased North Korean people’s animosity toward Americans and made it harder for workinglevel nuclear dialogue between the countries to resume.

North Korea is extremely sensitive to outside criticism about its authoritarian leadership. It has also repeatedly expressed displeasure about a monthslong stalemate in negotiations, and it has ramped up testing of shortrange ballistic missiles and rocket artillery in recent weeks in an apparent effort to build bargaining leverage.

“Our expectations of dialogue with the U.S. are gradually disappearing and we are being pushed to reexamine all the measures we have taken so far,” Choe said in the statement, carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

In a speech to U.S. veterans in Indiana on Tuesday, Pompeo said the Trump administration recognized that “North Korea’s rogue behavior could not be ignored” while touting its approach in foreign policy.

“Americanism — it means telling the truth about the challenges we face,” he said. “We recognized that North Korea’s rogue behavior could not be ignored.”

Nuclear negotiations have been at a standstill since a February summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam collapsed after the U.S. side rejected North Korean demands for broad sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

Kim TongHyung is an Associated Press writer.