朝鲜已经在计划与美国进行的下一轮会谈之前，为讨论无核化问题设定了条件，为朝鲜最高领导人金正恩和唐纳德·特朗普总统历史性的和平进程注入了积极的基调。
在朝鲜中央通讯社周一发表的一份声明中，朝鲜外交部美国事务司司长表示，“幸运的是，美国一再表明其通过对话和谈判解决问题的立场。”这位官员还表示，“希望预计在几周内举行的工作级别谈判将是朝鲜和美国之间的一次良好会晤”，这是朝鲜官方名称朝鲜民主主义人民共和国的缩写。
声明指出，华盛顿方面的做法可能要么“改善”它与平壤之间的关系，要么“加剧彼此之间的敌意”，称“有两种选择——危机和机遇”，这“完全取决于美国”。
这位官员被引述说，“朝鲜的立场是明确和不变的”。“当危及我们系统安全和阻碍我们发展的威胁和障碍毫无疑问地被消除时，关于无核化的讨论是可能的。”
朝鲜长期以来一直是国际制裁的目标，因为它发展了核武器。统治朝鲜的金朝认为，核武器是阻止美国潜在入侵的必要资产。尽管自20世纪50年代朝鲜战争爆发以来，华盛顿和平壤从未实现关系正常化，当时美国支持韩国，中国和苏联支持朝鲜，但自去年夏天以来，两国政府成功举行了三次旨在确保和平、解除经济限制和朝鲜半岛无核化的峰会。
最后一句话的确切含义有时被证明是正在进行的谈判的障碍，美国推动无先决条件的“完全、可核查和不可逆转的无核化”，而朝鲜则首先寻求制裁救济和安全保障。双方尚未达成任何协议。
尽管如此，两国政府仍继续对对方愿意对话和韩国报纸表示信任Joongang Ilbo周日援引外交消息称，金在上个月的最新信件中邀请特朗普参加第四次峰会，可能在平壤。韩国外交部长姜京华第二天证实，已经发出了一封信，但拒绝透露其中的任何内容。
同样在周一，韩国联合通讯社援引美国国务院发言人的话说，美国将“欢迎朝鲜承诺在9月下旬恢复谈判”，并“准备在商定的时间和地点进行这些讨论”这份声明发表一周前，朝鲜第一副外长崔圣辉表示“愿意与美国方面坐下来，就我们迄今在9月下旬商定的时间和地点讨论的问题进行全面讨论。”
崔天凯当时表示:“我相信，美国方面将根据我们可以接受的计算方法，提出一项符合朝鲜和美国利益的建议。”。“如果美国方面再一次用这么大的力气去指着与朝美工作谈判中的新计算方法无关的陈旧方案，朝美交易可能会结束。”
重启高层会谈的最新努力是在朝鲜发射了一系列短程弹道导弹和火箭试验之际进行的，自7月下旬以来总共发射了约8次。金正日表示，此类试验是对美国决定与韩国举行联合演习的回应，朝鲜认为此举是一种挑衅。
在最近一次发射几天后，朝鲜中央通讯社周日发表评论，谴责五角大楼与韩国和日本的区域军事演习，以及计划在两国部署更先进的美国武器。它警告说:“好战势力违背国际社会的愿望和时代潮流的侵略战争行动是绝对不能容忍的。”
特朗普及其官员在很大程度上淡化了发射，指出发射可能违反联合国安理会决议，但不违反金正日自行暂停近两年没有进行的远程试验。其他人，如美国的亲密盟友日本，也表达了更大的担忧，尽管多名日本外务省官员将特朗普低调的回应形容为在最近与金正日的对话中保持良好个人关系的策略新闻周刊。
韩国总统文在寅也出席了特朗普和金正日6月下旬的最后一次会晤，他也批评了朝鲜的发射，但继续呼吁朝韩和美朝会谈取得进展。在周一的内阁会议上，穆恩说，“很快，朝鲜和美国的工作级对话将恢复”，这种对话将是“朝鲜半岛和平进程的推动力”
NORTH KOREA EXPLAINS CONDITIONS FOR GETTING RID OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS AHEAD OF U.S. TALKS
North Korea has laid out its conditions for discussing denuclearization ahead of the next round of planned talks with the United States, striking a positive tone for North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump's historic peace process.
In a statement published Monday by the official Korean Central News Agency, the director-general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Department of U.S. Affairs said it was "fortunate that the U.S. has repeatedly expressed its stand to tackle an issue through dialogue and negotiations." The official also voiced "hope that the working-level negotiations expected to be held in a few weeks will be a good meeting between the DPRK and the U.S.," using an acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The statement noted that Washington's approach could either "improve the relations" between it and Pyongyang or "add to the hostility towards each other, arguing there were "two options — crisis and chance" and it was "entirely up to the U.S." to choose between the two.
"Clear and invariable is the DPRK's stand," the official was cited as saying. "The discussion of denuclearization may be possible when threats and hurdles endangering our system security and obstructing our development are clearly removed beyond all doubt."
North Korea has long been the target of international sanctions due to its development of nuclear weapons, assets the ruling Kim dynasty has argued was necessary to deter a potential U.S. invasion. Though Washington and Pyongyang have never normalized ties since clashing during the 1950s Korean War in which the U.S. backed South Korea and China and the Soviet Union supported North Korea, the two governments have managed to get together for three summits since last summer aimed at securing peace, lifting economic restrictions and denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
The exact meaning of that last phrase has at times proved an obstacle for the ongoing negotiations, with the U.S. pushing for a "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" without preconditions and North Korea first seeking sanctions relief and security guarantees. The two sides have yet to reach any agreement.
Still, both administrations have continued to express confidence in the other's willingness to talk and South Korean newspaper Joongang Ilbo cited diplomatic sources Sunday as saying that Kim invited Trump to a fourth summit, possibly in Pyongyang, in his latest letter last month. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha confirmed the following day that a letter was sent, but declined to disclose any of its contents.
Also on Monday, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency cited a State Department spokesperson as that the U.S. would "welcome the North Korean commitment to resume negotiations in late September" and was "prepared to have those discussions at a time and place to be agreed." The statement came a week after North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui expressed a "willingness to sit with the U.S. side for comprehensive discussions of the issues we have so far taken up at the time and place to be agreed late in September."
"I believe that the U.S. side will come out with a proposal geared to the interests of the DPRK and the U.S. and based on the calculation method acceptable to us," Choe said at the time. "If the U.S. side fingers again the worn-out scenario which has nothing to do with the new calculation method at the DPRK-U.S. working negotiation to be held with so much effort, the DPRK-U.S. dealings may come to an end."