White House Says Comments by NKorea's Kim Are 'Interesting Signal'

The United States on Sunday said it saw as an "interesting signal" North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's comments this week saying he is ready for "dialog and confrontation" but that Washington was still waiting for direct communication from Pyongyang to start talks towards the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

"His comments this week we regard as an interesting signal and we will wait to see whether they are followed up with any kind of more direct communication to us about a potential path forward," U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in an ABC News interview.

"What President Biden has communicated is that the United States is prepared to engage in principled negotiations with North Korea to deal with the challenge of North Korea's nuclear program towards the ultimate objective of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Sullivan said in the interview.

Kim ordered his government to prepare for "both dialog and confrontation" with the United States, state news media reported on Friday, in his first reaction to the Biden administration’s new North Korea policy.