North Korea ruled out a role for South Korea in any regional diplomatic talks related to Pyongyang and warned of “countermeasures” against “the most hostile state” as it criticized the ongoing military cooperation between Seoul and Washington.

FILE – Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam, March 2, 2019. (Jorge Silva/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Captured during the Korean War and imprisoned for decades for refusing to renounce his communist beliefs, 95-year-old Ahn Hak-sop now has a single dying wish: to return to North Korea and be buried alongside his comrades.