North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, ordered his government to be prepared for “dialogue and confrontation” with the United States, in his first reaction to the US President Joe Biden government’s new policy on how to deal with the country’s growing nuclear and missile threat.

The White House said in April that it had reached “a clear understanding​”​ that the efforts of the past 4 US governments ​had failed to denuclearize North Korea, although they had tried both dialogue and sanctions. It added that Biden would chase “a measured, practical approach that is open to and will explore diplomacy” with North Korea​.

Kim’s comments came days before Sung Kim, Biden’s new representative on North Korea, meet with senior South Korean and Japanese officials in Seoul to discuss how to deal with North Korea. The North’s nuclear weapons have been expanding despite international sanctions and the country’s increasing economic difficulties. This week, Kim warned of an emerging food shortage​, ​prompting some analysts in ​South Korea to suggest that North Korea might be more willing to win outside aid.

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During a summit in Washington last month, Biden and his South Korean counterpart, President Moon Jae-in, agreed to build on the 2018 Singapore agreement struck by Kim and Former President Donald Trump​. Both Kim and Trump have counted that deal as one of their biggest foreign policy achievements, although it set only a roughly worded goal of denuclearizing and settling peace on the peninsula.