WASHINGTON — The U.S. remains ready for talks with North Korea on denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, while ensuring “that we have also the capabilities in the region and ready to go in case we need them,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
After a week in which a North Korean ballistic missile launch prompted an alert in Japan, Kirby told ABC’s “This Week” the U.S. is working on increased military cooperation with South Korea and Japan to counter threats from Kim Jong Un.
Kim “has decided not to take us up on that offer,” Kirby said Sunday. “Quite the opposite: now he has improved his ballistic missile program. He has clearly not abandoned his nuclear weapons ambitions.”
