On Thursday, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, excluded the possibility of resuming talks with the US, declaring that Pyongyang “will never sit face to face” with the Washington.
Her statement followed a UN Security Council meeting convened earlier this week to discuss North Korea‘s launch of a military spy satellite.
During the UNSC meeting, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield stated that Washington “continues to call for dialogue on any topic with the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea], without preconditions. The DPRK can choose the time and the topic. But the DPRK needs to make that choice.”
Kim also stated that “the sovereignty of an independent state can never be an agenda item for negotiations, and therefore, the DPRK will never sit face to face with the US for that purpose.”
The main threat to international peace and security does not come from the exercise of the DPRK’s sovereign right but from the US high-handed and arbitrary practices to disturb and oppress it.
North Korea announced on Thursday that its first spy satellite, which successfully entered orbit on November 21, captured images of US military facilities in San Diego and Japan, as well as the Suez Canal in Egypt. Kim Jong Un familiarised himself with the satellite photos in an operational report prepared by Pyongyang’s General Control Centre, North Korean media reported.
Media outlets have previously reported that the satellite has photographed the White House, the Pentagon and other key US defence facilities, but have yet to show any pictures taken by the spacecraft. Experts believe the deployment of the spy satellite could allow Pyongyang to detect troop movements, assets and targets for pre-emptive strikes.
