South Korea’s presidential Blue House said on Sunday that it was closely cooperating with the United States to keep communication channels with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun told reporters via a text message that the government emphasized the peaceful resolution through dialogue of the DPRK issues whenever opportunities were given, according to local media reports.
He said the government also expressed its position that dialogue could be of various types, including bilateral and multilateral ones.
Park said the governments of South Korea and the United States were closely cooperating in efforts to maintain a contact channel with the DPRK while sticking to a principle that maximum pressure and sanctions would be needed to encourage Pyongyang to return to a dialogue table.
The comment came after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. government was in direct communication with the DPRK and had two to three channels open to Pyongyang.
Park said the U.S. government had a position that it needs a quiet contact with the DPRK to resolve humanitarian issues such as the release of U.S. citizens detained in the DPRK.
The spokesman added that the DPRK has never expressed any interest in sincere dialogue over its nuclear program.
