DPRK says Kim-Trump relations firm

PYONGYANG - The close relations between top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump were firm and "the trust in each other is still maintained," Kim Kye-gwan, adviser to the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), said here on Thursday.

"I sincerely hope that a motive force to overcome all the obstacles between the DPRK and the US and to advance the bilateral relations in the better direction will be provided on the basis of the close relationship," the adviser was quoted by the official Korean Central News Agency as saying in a statement.

Working-level negotiations in Stockholm between the DPRK and the United States in early October broke down without any tangible result, with each blaming the other side for the failure.

He 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 the DPRK 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.