Senior US official urges DPRK to act in 'good faith'

WASHINGTON - A senior US diplomat on Wednesday called on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to show sincere intentions and take concrete steps toward denuclearization.

"We will negotiate with the government that exists in North Korea (DPRK) if they will negotiate in good faith consistent with their commitments under the six-party talks and the UN Security Council resolutions," Daniel Russel, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said at a press conference in Washington.

Russel stressed that the US has been consistent in making clear that it is open to dialogue with the DPRK, adding that it does not have a "hostile policy" toward Pyongyang.

The US is always seeking indicators of seriousness of purpose on the DPRK's part that is prepared to come to the negotiating table and ready to take irreversible steps necessary to denuclearization, Russel said.

"We are not seeing it yet, but we are not stopping our careful monitoring of their messaging," he added.

The DPRK on Wednesday warned the US of stronger counteractions to shatter its anti-Pyongyang campaigns, saying that it is no longer willing to "sit at the negotiating table" with Washington.

"Now that the brigandish US imperialists' hostile policy toward the DPRK is getting extremely ferocious, the army and the people of the DPRK will take stronger counteractions of justice to shatter it," said a statement issued by the National Defense Commission (NDC), the country's top military body.

In response to the statement, Russel said the US will not take one pronouncement from Pyongyang as "the last word", but is well aware of the potential for DPRK's provocation.