주한미국 해리스 대사 "하노이, 노딜 아니면 배드 딜 이었다"
North Korea continues to criticize U.S. officials for the failure of the Hanoi summit.
Washington's ambassador to South Korea says there was nothing good about Pyeongyang's offer.
Harry Harris also mentioned, they are continuing talks with the regime.
Lee Ji-won shares with us his remarks.
The U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, Harry Harris says that there were only two choices in Hanoi, either no deal... or a bad deal, which led President Donald Trump to end the summit without an agreement.
Speaking Monday to correspondents at South Korea's foreign ministry, Harris said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had offered nothing good.
"If we had taken that deal that Kim Jong-un himself offered we'd have seen the immediate relief from almost all of the sanctions. In return for that, there was a promise of dismantling of Yeongbyeon, at some time in the future. Almost all of that capacity to produce weapons would have remained intact. That wouldn't have made South Korea, the United States, Japan, China, Russia, or the whole region safer."
Still, the two sides have continued to talk since Hanoi, and what happened there, he said, put them in a better place to move forward.
But Harris also reiterated that the ball is in North Korea's court.
He said Kim now knows what President Trump expects, if he didn't before Hanoi,... and that it's up to him whether or not there's a third summit.
Harris was asked about South Korea's idea of a "middle deal",... which would combine Washington's comprehensive agreement and Pyeongyang's step-by-step approach.
He said he's not familiar with the details,... but he knows Presidents Moon and Trump have agreed that sanctions relief depends on North Korea's final, fully verified denuclearization.
As for projects between the two Koreas, Harris said he has not seen any formal proposal from Seoul asking for sanctions relief,... though there has been much discussion.
Harris said Pyeongyang and Washington can still make progress, even if its not on denuclearization and sanctions.
They can work on the other three pillars of the Singapore Summit -- improving ties, building a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula and recovering the remains of those killed in the Korean War.
While touching on the recent Seoul-Washington summit, Harris emphasized that the two leaders agreed on many things and reaffirmed the importance of close cooperation on North Korean matters.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.