Global Courant
WASHINGTON – The United States said Wednesday it has not seen a diplomatic breakthrough with North Korea over the return of American soldier Travis King, viewing the episode as isolated.
“I wouldn’t see this as a sign of a breakthrough. I think it’s a one-time event,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
“We are open to diplomacy with North Korea, we would welcome diplomacy with North Korea; they have always rejected that,” he said.
The US previously confirmed that King, who encountered North Korea in July, was in US custody and on his way home after being expelled to China by North Korea.
Mr. Miller condemned comments a day earlier at the United Nations by North Korea’s representative, who accused the United States of bringing the Korean Peninsula “closer to the brink of nuclear war.”
“We would obviously find these comments irresponsible, just as we find many statements North Korea makes to threaten its neighbors or increase tensions in the region,” he said.
Mr Miller confirmed that King was heading to the United States after a stopover at the Osan military base in South Korea.
He was transported to China from North Korea and flew from the border city of Dandong to Shenyang, where King was greeted by the US Ambassador to China, Mr Nicholas Burns.
In the United States, King will be taken to Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, another U.S. official said. AFP
The US sees North Korea’s release of a soldier as a ‘one-off’ and not a ‘breakthrough’ in relations
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