U.S. rejects North Korea’s offer for direct talks, pushes for more sanctions

Amid calls for stiffer action against North Korea, the Obama administration told Congress on Tuesday the U.S. response to the Sony Pictures cyberattack was only the first step to further isolate the country over its nuclear and missile programs and human rights abuses. Earlier this month, President Barack Obama signed an executive order to target officials and front companies of the North Korean government. Rep. Ed Royce, a Republican and the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, said more needs to be done because most of those blacklisted had already been targeted by U.S. sanctions. The Senate did not act on the legislation before adjourning last year, but Royce said the Republican-led House will attempt to push it again. North Korea on Tuesday offered to hold direct talks with the U.S., but the U.S. State Department rejected the tit-for-tat offer as an “implicit threat” but said it “remains opens to dialogue” with Pyongyang.

Last year’s cyberattack is estimated to have cost Sony hundreds of millions of dollars in damage..It was a state-sanctioned attack that has many Americans asking, ‘If that is what North Korea can do to a movie company, how vulnerable is our critical infrastructure…

Rep. Ed Royce, the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee

North Korea and the U.S. remain technically in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The rivals also are locked in an international standoff over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and its alleged human rights abuses. A United Nations commission accuses North Korea of a wide array of crimes against humanity, including murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment and rape. North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests - the last in February 2013 - and recently threatened a fourth in response to a UN resolution condemning its human rights record.

It is totally arbitrary and out of established hostile policy against my country to impose any kinds of pressure against my country, which we cannot accept at all.

North Korea’s deputy U.N. ambassador, An Myong Hun

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