North Korean state media have raised the possibility that the isolated country could “establish a new relationship” with the United States.
It comes a day before North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets US President Donald Trump for historic talks.
The comments mark a shift in tone from North Korea after decades of animosity towards the US.
Meanwhile Mr Trump has said he has a “good feeling” about the much-anticipated summit.
Both leaders arrived for the talks – the first ever between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader – in Singapore on Sunday.
Mr Trump tweeted on Monday morning that there was “excitement in the air” in the Asian country ahead of the summit.
He hopes the meeting will kick-start a process that eventually sees Mr Kim give up nuclear weapons. But North Korea’s perspective has always been more opaque.
North Korea’s state media do not usually report on the leader’s activities in real time, and the summit has only had a passing mention so far.
The editorial in Rodong Sinmun confirmed that Mr Kim had travelled to Singapore to meet Mr Trump and that “we will establish a new relationship to meet the changing demands of the new era”.
It said “broad and in-depth opinions” would be exchanged to “establish a permanent and peaceful regime in the Korean peninsula and to solve problems that are of common concern, including issues to realise the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”.
“Even if a country had a hostile relationship with us in the past, our attitude is that if this nation respects our autonomy… we shall seek normalisation through dialogue,” it reads.
Source: BBC
