U.S. won't Give up on Nuclear Talks with N. Korea

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun said Tuesday that the United States will not give up on negotiating with North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, apparently responding to Pyongyang's demands that Washington meet an end-of-year deadline, Yonhap reports.

Biegun made the remark at a yearend function organized by the Korea Foundation in Washington, hours after North Korea warned it is up to the U.S. what "Christmas gift" it will get.

The statement from North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Ri Thae-song was an apparent threat to resume testing of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles unless the U.S. shows flexibility in their stalled negotiations before the end of the year.