North Korea has expressed willingness to hold talks with the United States in a bid to improve relations.
According to the South Korean news agency, a senior official of the North's ruling Worker's Party in charge of inter-Korean relations Yong-chol told South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Sunday that North Korea has "enough" willingness to hold talks with the U.S.
Yong-chol made the remark during a meeting with Moon in PyeongChang, the host city of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
"President Moon pointed out that U.S.-North Korea dialogue must be held at an early date even for an improvement in the South-North Korea relationship and the fundamental resolution of Korean Peninsula issues," Yonhap quoted South Korean Presidential Spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom as saying.
"The North Korean delegation too agreed that North Korea-U.S. relations must develop along with the South-North Korea relationship while noting (the North) has enough intention to hold North Korea-U.S. dialogue," he added.
This development came after the U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday announced new sanctions on North Korea, specifically targeting the country's shipping and trading companies to further isolate the communist country economically.