The vice chairman of North Korea’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee Ri Jong-hyuk said that North Korea wants the U.S. to treat it the same as the U.S. treats other countries, without discrimination. He is currently in the U.S. attending a private diplomacy seminar on Korean Peninsula issues at the University of Georgia.

After the second day of debate, Ri was also asked about the sinking of the South Korean naval corvette, the Cheonan, for which North Korea has been blamed. He replied that reporters keep bringing up the issue, which Ri said has nothing to do with North Korea.