MojNews- US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un enjoy a “special relationship,” but the Washington ‘swamp’ is preventing warmer ties, Pyongyang said.

“The relationship between [Kim] and President Trump is special,” Foreign Ministry adviser Kim Kye-gwan said in a statement released by North Korean state media early Thursday.

However, the statement went on, “Washington political circles and DPRK policy makers of the US administration are hostile to the DPRK for no reason, preoccupied with the Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice.”

Washington and Pyongyang earlier scheduled a round of talks on denuclearization and other issues for the end of the year, though it’s not clear the meeting will still take place.

After the North Korean foreign minister stated earlier this month that Washington had “not fulfilled” expectations in previous talks, Thursday’s statement noted that North Korea would see “how wisely the U.S. will pass the end of the year.”