North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country is prepared for "both dialogue and confrontation" with the Biden administration after the U.S. and others urged North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions and return to talks, The Korea Times said.
It was Kim's first public statement to the Biden administration's recent assessment of a strategy that promised a "practical and calibrated approach" to North Korea to persuade the country into abandoning its nuclear program.
Kim underscored the need to "prepare for both dialogue and confrontation, especially to get fully prepared for confrontation in order to protect the dignity of our state," the Korean Central News Agency reported.
Kim made the comments during a plenary meeting of North Korea's Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea on Thursday.
The comments mark the first high-level suggestion of talks since Biden replaced Donald Trump, who met Kim three times, Bloomberg said.
North Korea had already accused Biden of pursuing a "hostile policy" and saying it was a "big mistake" for the American President to say he would deal with the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear program through "diplomacy and stern deterrence," according to Channel News Asia.
Biden said he would not meet Kim without a concrete plan for negotiating on the North's nuclear arsenal, during South Korean President Moon Jae-in's visit to Washington last month.
According to Soo Kim, a policy analyst at Rand Corp. who previously worked at the Central Intelligence Agency, Kim's reminder will probably be "received differently" in Washington and Seoul.
North Korea has conducted six nuclear bomb tests since 2006.
In 2019, North Korea said Biden should be "beaten to death with a stick," CNA said.
North Korea is under a host of international sanctions for its banned weapons programs, The Korea Times said.
