Pyongyang, August 23 (KCNA) -- Foreign Minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Ri Yong Ho made public the following statement Friday:

U.S. State Secretary Pompeo, when interviewed by a U.S. newspaper Wednesday, said if north Korea does not set out to denuclearize itself, the U.S. will maintain the strongest sanctions in history to make it confirm that the denuclearization is the right way.

Just as a saying goes "A crow never becomes whiter for often washing", he is the diehard toxin of the U.S. diplomacy.

On April 24 he cited what he called a "lane change" in an interview with the U.S. media only to be snubbed.

Nothing decent can be expected from Pompeo, a man subject to strong censure from many countries for adopting the most wicked methods of the Central Intelligence Agency as diplomatic means in every part of the world. But what arouses concerns is a string of senseless remarks made by the man heading the U.S. negotiation team at a time when the DPRK-U.S. dialogue is high on the agenda.

There is a proverb saying "Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind". Now that he made rhetoric about the DPRK without elementary obligation as a human being, losing his face as the diplomatic boss of a country, I can not but respond to it in kind.

Is he really the man who begged for denuclearization and pledged the establishment of new DPRK-U.S. relations when he was received by the chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK during his several visits to Pyongyang?

He who has no shame has no conscience. He is truly impudent enough to utter such thoughtless words which only leave us disappointed and skeptical as to whether we can solve any problem with such a guy.

The whole world knows that the U.S. is the chieftain which spawned the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula and which makes its solution difficult.

Furthermore, what the U.S. has done since the adoption of the June 12 DPRK-U.S. joint statement was holding war exercises against the DPRK nonstop in and around the Korean peninsula and shipping strategic assets to it only to make the issue further complicated.

Now he again resorts to the hackneyed sanctions rhetoric, misleading the truth. He must be a trouble-maker bereft of sensible cogitative power and rational judgment as he only casts dark shadow over the prospect of the DPRK-U.S. negotiations.

All things to which Pompeo thrusts himself into go wrong and end up in failure though they showed signs of positive developments. He sure seems to be more interested in realizing his future "political ambition" rather than the current foreign policy of the U.S.

We have already given ample explanation enough to be understood by the U.S. side and we have also given it enough time out of maximum patience.

If the U.S. still dreams a pipe dream of gaining everything through sanctions, we are left with two options, either to leave it enjoying the dream to its heart's content or to wake it up from the dream.

We are ready for both dialogue and stand-off.

The U.S. is sadly mistaken if it still thinks of standing in confrontation with the DPRK with sanctions, not dropping its confrontational stand.

Then, we will remain as the biggest "threat" to the U.S. for long and long and will make it understand for sure what it has to do for the denuclearization. -0-