U.S. embassy cables have shown that North Korea attempted to reach out to the U.S. in August of 2009 for one-on-one talks on disarmament.

According to the cables revealed by Wikileaks, North Korea’s deputy foreign minister at the time, Kim Yong-il, told Mongolian officials while in Ulaan Baattar that “there are no eternal enemies in this world.”

According to the Mongolian officials, Kim said that North Korea is spending too much on weapons rather than on its children, but that reality dictated that Pyongyang could not get away from weapons.

Kim reportedly said that the North was only concerned about self-preservation and stated no criticism of the U.S.

The Mongolian officials said, however, that Kim did condemn China and Russia several times for having supported U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea.