SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump continue to have close relations and trust, with Kim calling the relationship “special,” North Korea’s state news agency KCNA said on Thursday.

The statement comes after North Korea earlier this month broke off working-level talks with the United States in Sweden, pushing denuclearization negotiations back into limbo after what had been months of stalemate.

North Korea had cast the blame on the U.S., saying the other side’s negotiators would not “give up their old viewpoint and attitude.”

Kim Jong Un “said that the relationship between him and President Trump is special” a few days ago, according to the KCNA statement.

“I sincerely hope that a motive force to overcome all the obstacles between the DPRK and the U.S. and to advance the bilateral relations in the better direction will be provided on the basis of the close relationship,” the KCNA statement, under the name of Foreign Ministry adviser Kim Kye Gwan, said.

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is North Korea’s official name.

However, contrary to Trump, “Washington political circles and DPRK policy makers of the U.S. administration are hostile to the DPRK for no reason, preoccupied with the Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice.” the statement said.

The statement said North Korea will see “how wisely the U.S. will pass the end of the year.”

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un had earlier set an end-of-the-year deadline for denuclearization talks with Washington.

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