North Korea says Kim-Trump relations firm

The close relations between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump were firm and "the trust in each other is still maintained", a top official said here on Thursday. "I sincerely hope that a motive force to overcome all the obstacles between North Korea and the US and to advance the bilateral relations in the better direction will be provided on the basis of the close relationship," Kim Kye-gwan, the adviser to the Foreign Ministry, was quoted as saying by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Working-level negotiations in Stockholm between the North and the US earlier this month broke down without any tangible result, with each blaming the other side for the failure.

Kim Kye-gwan said that the failure of the negotiation was due to the Washington political circles and US policy makers who are "preoccupied with the Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice", and hostile to North Korea for no reason.

However, the adviser voiced hope that the two sides will reach a deal on the denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula by the end of the year, saying "there is a will, there is a way".

Pyongyang has set a deadline to reach a deal between the two sides by the end of the year, or otherwise it will "take a new way" to deal with the situation in the Korean Peninsula.