A senior North Korea official on Monday urged the United States to behave as if it seriously wants peace.
In his short speech to the general assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a global organization based in Geneva, Ri Jong Hyok said, “Now is the high time to put an end to the U.S. anachronistic anti-DPRK hostile policy and its futile moves of sanctions and pressure.”
“The United States should properly understand our position and come out in a manner of sincere and serious attitude for positively contributing to maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula,” Ri, a member of the Supreme People’s Assembly and director of the National Reunification Institute, added.
He has previously said (pdf) the United States’ decades-long nuclear threats were the sole driving factor behind his country’s development of nuclear weapons, and asserted Monday that his country wants to build a “just and peaceful new world, free from aggression and war.”
The statements come just days after President Donald Trump announced that war hawk John Bolton—who recently argued that, absent Korean reunification, “unpalatable military options” are the only way to respond to North Korea—was his pick to replace H.R. McMaster as national security adviser.
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT