North Korea has broken off working-level nuclear talks with the US shortly after they started at the outskirts of Sweden’s Stockholm. Pyongyang’s chief negotiator has then urged Washington to change its stance.

Kim Myong-gil, highest-ranking Korean official present at the talks, said the negotiations won’t resume at least until the end of the year and advised the American side to rethink its position.

The negotiations have not fulfilled our expectation and finally broke off.

US State Department had a different view of the eight-hour talks in Stockholm, saying that the comments by the North Koreans didn’t reflect the content or the spirit of the negotiations.

The Saturday’s talks were the first meeting between the US and North Korean diplomats after Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un agreed to restart dialogue as they got together at the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas in June.

Prior to the Swedish meeting, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that “a lot of work needs to be done,” but expressed hope that progress with Pyongyang will be reached after months of stalemate.

Trump and Kim first held talks in Singapore in June 2018, which was touted as a major breakthrough towards a peaceful settlement on the Korean Peninsula. Prior to the negotiations, the US leader even threatened to use force against Pyongyang over its military nuclear program and continued ballistic missile tests.

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However, the second summit of the two leaders in Vietnam this February was cut short and ended without any agreements being reached. Trump said that the talks failed because North Korea wanted all sanctions to be lifted at once. Pyongyang denied the claim, blaming the Americans for not willing to agree even to minor concessions.

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