During debates over whether the US will ever be willing to approach North Korea and request a good faith dialogue to calm tensions in the region, one cannot help but think there is a certain useless quality to such questions. How can the US be ready for dialogue with another country when the US appears not even to fully listen to what North Korea says very clearly in public? Forgetting North Korea, when the US doesn't even listen to North Korea's neighbours China and Russia, one must come to terms with the impossibility of the US as a good faith dialogue partner.
North Korea's position vis-a-vis its contemporary weapons programme has always been clear. One needn't be a spy or have secret drones flying over Pyongyang to ascertain this. One only needs to use the internet to read official statements from the DPRK and listen to what its diplomats say at places like the UN.
North Korea's current position can be easily defined as follows:
The DPRK will not negotiate the state of its weapons programme until such a time that the DPRK achieves nuclear parity with the United States.
In this context, parity does not mean the same number of nuclear bombs and nuclear warhead capable missiles as the United States. It would take decades for North Korea to reach such a parity. Instead, North Korea seeks to achieve the ability to deliver a nuclear weapon to US soil, just as the US can do the same in respect of North Korea (and the rest of the world).
Comment: See also:
Lavrov: Washington 'looking for excuse to destroy North Korea', Russia is ready but advocates diplomatic solution
North Korea sees no reason to negotiate with US given their "hostile policy" and war games