The reason for the rejection was because North Korea allegedly didn't address denuclearization on the peninsula according to the State Department.
North Korea has since suffered UN sanctions that would reduce its $3bn in annual export revenue by a third by targeting revenue earners such as coal, seafood, and iron. The sanction came as North Korea produced its first ever nuclear warhead that is able to fit inside its missiles.
State Department spokesman John Kirby: "To be clear, it was the North Koreans who proposed discussing a peace treaty,""We carefully considered their proposal and made clear that denuclearization had to be part of any such discussion.
The North rejected our response," adding. "Our response to the NK proposal was consistent with our longstanding focus on denuclearization."Reuters reports: State Department spokesman John Kirby made the comment in response to a Wall Street Journal report that the White House secretly agreed to peace talks just before Pyongyang's latest nuclear bomb test.
The newspaper, citing U.S. officials familiar with the events, said the Obama administration dropped its condition that Pyongyang take steps to curtail its nuclear arsenal before any peace talks take place, instead calling for North Korea's atomic weapons program to be just one part of the discussion.Pyongyang declined the proposal, and its Jan. 6 nuclear test ended the diplomatic plans, the newspaper reported.The isolated state has long sought a peace treaty with the United States and other parties in the 1950-53 Korean War, as well as an end to military exercises by South Korea and the United States, which has about 28,500 troops based in South Korea.North Korea said on Jan. 6 it had tested a nuclear device it claimed was a hydrogen bomb, provoking condemnation from its neighbors and the United States. Weeks later, it launched a long-range rocket carrying what it called a satellite, prompting renewed criticism.On Jan. 16, Pyongyang had demanded the conclusion of a peace treaty with the United States and a halt to U.S. military exercises with South Korea to end its nuclear tests.But U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said then that Pyongyang needed to demonstrate by its actions that it was serious about denuclearization before any dialogues could start.The Korean War ended in 1953 in an armistice, not a peace treaty, signed by the United States, representing United Nations forces; the North Korean military and the Chinese army.
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http://www.neonnettle.com/features/1114-bombshell-proof-us-formally-rejected-north-korea-s-peace-offer-
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