THE Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) said yesterday there has been no progress in the DPRK-U.S. relations, and hostilities that could lead to an exchange of fire have continued, according to DPRK’s news agency KCNA.

In a statement under the name of DPRK senior official Kim Yong Chol, KCNA said that it would be a mistake for the United States to ignore a year-end deadline on the “close personal relations” between U.S. President Donald Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un.

Kim Jong Un has set an end-of-the-year deadline for denuclearization talks with Washington.

Kim Yong Chol was DPRK’s nuclear talks envoy to the United States for the discussions between the two countries before the second Trump-Kim summit in Vietnam in February ended in failure.

Kim Yong Chol said Washington has been pressuring Pyongyang in a “more crafty and vicious way” instead of heeding DPRK’s call to adopt a new approach, adding that the United States has been persistently pushing other countries to impose U.N. sanctions on DPRK.

The statement quoted Kim Yong Chol as saying he hopes that U.S.-DPRK relations do not underscore that “there are permanent foes but no permanent friends.”

The statement came just days after DPRK asked the Republic of Korea (ROK) to discuss removal of its facilities from the DPRK’s resort of Mount Kumgang, a key symbol of cooperation that Pyongyang recently criticized as “shabby” and “capitalist.”

DPRK on Friday sent notices to ROK’s Unification Ministry, which handles issues between the two sides, and Hyundai Group, whose affiliate Hyundai Asan Corp built the resort facilities, asking for their demolition and seeking discussion through the exchange of documents, the ministry said.(CGTN)