N. KOREA- U.S. TALKS BREAK OFF

[Anchor Lead]

The latest working-level talks between North Korea and the U.S. broke down without producing any result. The North Korean delegates blamed their American counterparts for bringing nothing to the table despite having explained what they wanted. However, Washington immediately countered that they provided creative ideas and made several proposals to push forward the agreement made at the Singapore summit. Saying that 70-year-old hostile relations cannot be overcome within a day, the U.S. also accepted Sweden's proposal to meet again two weeks later to continue the discussion.

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The U.S. delegation did not have much to say about North Korea which declared the breakdown of talks.

[Soundbite] ALLISON HOOKER(WHITE HOUSE NSC DIRECTOR FOR KOREA) : "(Ms. Hooker. Any comments on yesterday's talks?) Sorry. I'm not answering any questions. (What do you think of Mr. Ambassador Kim Myong-gil's accusations?) Have a nice day. Thank you."

However, the U.S. State Department spokesperson immediately dismissed the North Korean delegation's claim that the U.S. came to the negotiation table empty-handed. Morgan Ortagus said "The early comments from the DPRK delegation do not reflect the content or the spirit of today's eight-and-a-half-hour discussion." She also emphasized that the U.S. "brought creative ideas and had good discussions with its DPRK counterparts." She added that the American proposals could have made progress in the four pillars of a joint statement issued after the first DPRK-U.S. summit in Singapore. However, there was no criticism toward North Korea. Washington did not react to Pyongyang's threat that North Korea's self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and ICBM tests hinges on the U.S. The U.S. State Department said "a legacy of 70 years of war and hostility cannot be overcome through the course of one negotiation" to explain the breakdown of the talks. Then it added that the U.S. accepted Sweden's proposal to meet again two weeks later to resume discussions. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he would wait and see what happens to the DPRK-U.S. relationship. Now the world is waiting to hear what he has to say about the failure of the latest working-level meeting.