PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — The head of North Korea’s parliament said today that his country wants to focus on improving its struggling economy and raising its standard of living, but can only do so if the United States abandons what he called a hostile policy toward Pyongyang.

Kim Yong Nam, head of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly and North Korea’s de facto head of state, said economic growth is the top goal of the government under its new supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, who took over nearly two years ago after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il. But he said such improvements can only be made once North Korea is confident it will not be attacked or ostracized by the United States.

“There wouldn’t be any reason for us to be on bad terms with the United States if the U.S. government gives up its hostile policy and opts for a policy change of respecting our sovereignty and right to selection,” he said in a meeting in Pyongyang with Gary Pruitt, president and CEO of The Associated Press.

Although the United States has repeatedly offered assurances to North Korea that it has no intention of attacking, Pyongyang has long demanded that it remove the tens of thousands of American troops stationed in South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. That means the countries remain technically at war.

North Korea says it wants a formal peace treaty and all of the U.S. troops removed from the South, and Kim reiterated that position today. But North Korea continues to develop a nuclear weapons program and longrange missiles of its own.