North Korean officials have reportedly ignored the Biden administration since mid-February after multiple outreach attempts, a senior Biden administration official told Reuters on Saturday.
North Korea and the U.S. remain at odds over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. During the Trump administration, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and former President Donald Trump had three meetings discussing denuclearizing the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), but talks later fell apart.
A senior Biden administration official told Reuters on the condition of anonymity that there have been “multiple attempts” to contact the DPRK, but no successful communication was established “through several channels starting in mid-February, including in New York … To date, we have not received any response from Pyongyang.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are set to meet with foreign officials in both Japan and South Korea in the coming week, where they’re expected to highlight growing concerns regarding North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, Reuters reported. (RELATED: North Korea Promises ICBM Test Hours After Successful US Intercept Test)
US President Donald Trump (R) walks with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un during a break in talks at the second US-North Korea summit at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi on February 28, 2019. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
President Biden has repeatedly called Jong-un a “thug” and made it clear that the need for denuclearization is a must before heavy economic sanctions can be eased on the DPRK.
North Korean state media has still not acknowledged Joe Biden as the 46th U.S. president, according to the BBC.