North Korea Says US Must ‘Withdraw Its Hostile Policy’

North Korean state media has issued a new statement on Tuesday, reiterating the call for the US to “withdraw its hostile policy” toward North Korea and come up with new negotiation efforts.

The media has been pushing this increasingly in the past few weeks, as the one-year anniversary of the first Kim-Trump summit approaches. That summit went exceedingly well, though a failed Hanoi Summit in February has stalled the process since then.

With no progress in months, North Korean state media are increasingly emphasizing the need for a new approach, and warn that the US can’t continue its “arrogant and unilateral” policies and expect to get anywhere.

US officials aren’t suggesting any changes are coming, and to the extent officials address the matter at all, they emphasize that they don’t intend to offer any new concessions and expect North Korea to denuclearize unconditionally. North Korea clearly isn’t going to do that.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in tried to be a bit more optimistic about the matter, saying he expects both sides to return to negotiations “soon.” He added that there are some talks ongoing about a third Trump-Kim summit.

Trump has said he looks forward to meeting Kim again. The two get along quite well, by all indications, though North Korea has made clear they don’t want John Bolton or Mike Pompeo involved in the process going forward.