Exactly What Did North Korea Call US Demands for Denuclearization?

What kind of demands did Secretary of State Mike Pompeo make in North Korea? That depends on which translation you prefer of North Korea’s statement. Everyone agrees that they called the demands “regrettable,” but the North Koreans also included a more pungent description of the US demands:

• The Washington Post and Politico report that they were “robber-like.”
• The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal report that they were “gangster like.” Ditto for the Guardian, the BBC, and CNN.
• The Los Angeles Times reports that they were “cancerous.”
• Fox News left out that part of the statement entirely.

Overall, “unilateral and gangster-like” seems to have carried the day. But however you translate it, it did not suggest a lot of progress was made.