The United States was not surprised by reports Thursday that a North Korean delegation walked out of talks on bilateral relations with South Korean officials, saying the move was “certainly consistent with their behavior over the past several months.” “It's another example of North Korea rejecting the entreaties of their neighbors to engage in constructive behavior, and I think that it's fair to say that that pathway will only lead to further and further isolation,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. The North Koreans appear to “revel in their status as a state and a society that is isolated from the rest of the world,” McCormack lamented. “While we are very concerned about the humanitarian situation [in the North], this is a pathway that the government of North Korea is leading itself as well as the North Korean people.”
