North Korea broke its silence Wednesday on its surprise peace overtures, including a tentative summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, while denying that U.S. pressure led to the breakthrough.
The Korean Central News Agency, a North Korean propaganda outlet, said the sudden conciliatory moves were an "expression of self-confidence" by a regime that already "has acquired everything it desires," a possible reference to the buildup of its nuclear and ballistic missile arsenals.
Without directly referring to the Trump-Kim summit, KCNA noted the recent "great change in the north-south relations," as well as a "sign of change also in the DPRK [North Korea]-U.S. relations."
KCNA denied that the openings came about "as a result of sanctions and pressure."
Charges that the "maximum pressure" campaign of the U.S. led to the potential for dialogue were "just as meaningless as a dog barking at the moon," KCNA said.
North Korea had been silent on the proposed Trump-Kim summit since Trump agreed to the talks on March 8.
The North Korean statement came amid reports that the annual Foal Eagle military exercises in South Korea could be cut short to avoid coinciding with the tentative Trump-Kim summit at the end of May.
South Korean media reported Wednesday that the exercises could run for just a month, rather than the traditional two, in what may be an effort cut a wide berth around the proposed dialogue.
-- Richard Sisk can be reached at richard.sisk@military.com.
![Pete Hegseth shakes hands with Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance](http://images03.military.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_large/public/2024-11/ApNewsroom_Trump_Pardon_19401.jpg?itok=rdqmVqvA "Pete Hegseth, left, with Fox News, shakes hands with Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance during his appearance on "Fox & Friends," Monday, Nov. 18, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)")
