Anchor: The U.S. struck a conciliatory tone on North Korea before President Moon Jae-in meets U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday to seek continued top-down diplomacy for the North's denuclearization. Pyongyang, for its part, again condemned  sanctions in a meeting of party officials, but stopped short of making disparaging remarks against Washington. 
Kim Bum-soo has this report. 

Report: As President Moon Jae-in is getting ready to mediate between Washington and Pyongyang, the two sides are clarifying their positions on denuclearization.

Speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, U.S. ​Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted that Washington may take it easy in enforcing sanctions on North Korea

[Sound bite: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo]
(Rep. Cory Gardner: Do you agree that no sanctions on North Korea should be lifted until North Korea demonstrates its commitment to complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization?” 
"I want to leave a little space there. From time to time there are particular provisions that if we were making substantial progress that one might think that was the right thing to do to achieve sometimes it's visas, so I want to leave a little room. But yes, your point is well taken. The enforcement regime, the core of UN Security Council resolutions needs to remain in place until the verification of denuclearization." 

It is unclear if Pompeo mentioned "visas" in reference to lifting the current travel ban for American tourists to North Korea or North Koreans prohibited from traveling overseas.

[Sound bite: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo]
"The enforcement regime, the core of UN Security Council resolutions need to remain in place until the verification of denuclearization."   

The comments came as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a series of meetings with ranking party officials before the Supreme People's Assembly on Thursday. 

[Sound bite: N. Korean Central Television  (Apr. 10/news report on plenary session  of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party)] 

The North's state-run media cited Kim as saying his country should build a self-reliant economy in order to deliver a "serious blow" to hostile forces that imposed sanctions on the regime. Kim said the hostile forces are mistakenly determined to bring the country down with sanctions.

If President Moon Jae-in manages to further soften the U.S. stance on North Korea during the summit in Washington on Thursday, analysts predict a special envoy from Seoul will visit Pyongyang with a mediation plan. 

While the prospect of South Korean mediation remains unclear, recent satellite images suggest that North Korea may be preparing for a large military parade later this month to mark the founding of its military or the birthday of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the regime. 
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.

[Photo : KBS News]