North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator welcomed on Friday U.S. President Donald Trump's suggestion that a "new method" be used in talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs.
Kim Myong Gil praised Trump's "wise political decision" to seek a new approach to the stalled talks without a "troublemaker" in the U.S. administration — an apparent reference to John Bolton, Trump's hawkish former national security adviser, who was fired a week ago.
Trump said on Wednesday that Bolton's suggestion for a Libyan model of denuclearization for North Korea had "set us back very badly," while in contrast his own diplomacy had resulted in the country freezing nuclear tests and returning remains of U.S. soldiers missing from the 1950-53 Korean War.