North Korea threatens to restart nuclear program if US does not lift sanctions

TOKYO – North Korea has threatened to resume development of its nuclear weapons program if the United States does not lift sanctions, highlighting one of the main potential obstacles to Washington's diplomatic relationship with Kim Jong Un.

The Trump administration has insisted that sanctions and other pressures continue to weigh on North Korea until it dismantles its nuclear program. Kim's regime, however, has always demanded a gradual denuclearization process that would involve the lifting of US sanctions along the way.

A statement released Friday by the North Korean Foreign Ministry says talks on the Pyongyang nuclear program are deadlocked.

The issue of sanctions has also created a gap between Seoul and Washington.

South Korea has supported the North's call for sanctions relief and is eager to implement an ambitious program of economic development and cooperation, including the construction of road and rail links across their heavily militarized border. .

[North Korea appears to raise its demands]

The North Korean Foreign Ministry has warned that unless sanctions are lifted and Washington stops behaving "arrogantly", North Korea could reinstate "pyongjin" – its policy of simultaneously developing its nuclear weapons program and economic development.

In April, North Korean leader Kim said that the country's nuclear weapons program was sufficiently advanced and that the "pyongjin" policy would be replaced by a single objective of improving the economy. . A step back could reignite tensions with the United States.

Yet neither side turned its back on the negotiations.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters that he would meet his North Korean "counterpart" for further talks next week, without however specifying exactly when, where and with whom these talks would take place.

Pompeo met Kim in Pyongyang last month and assured that he had promised US inspectors to visit two nuclear test sites and missile tests to check their dismantling.

Speaking at "The Laura Ingraham Show" last week, Pompeo said that a summit between Kim and President Trump could take place early next year and allow "a substantial breakthrough in reducing the nuclear threat of North Korea. "

"We are still happy that they have not conducted a nuclear test for a very long time and that they have not launched a missile for a very long time," said Pompeo, adding that Kim had made it clear to him that he intended to proceed with denuclearization. But there is still a lot to do.

In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Friday, Pompeo reiterated that "there is still a lot of work to be done," but added, "I am confident that we will maintain economic pressure until President Kim fulfills its functions. " the commitment he made to President Trump in June in Singapore. "

This often repeated problem about pressure is the problem in Pyongyang's eyes. North Korea argues that Trump promised Kim in June that a new era of relationships was beginning.

"The improvement of relations and sanctions are inconsistent," said the Foreign Ministry. "Friendship" is incompatible with "pressure". "

He asked Washington to give up its "foolish dream" that sanctions and pressures would lead to denuclearization. "We can not help but laugh at such a stupid idea," he said.

The United States, he added, would make a grave mistake in thinking that North Korea would accept unilateral disarmament as long as sanctions were maintained, and argued that negotiations should be "simultaneous and progressive "and based on" reciprocity and equality. "

"If the United States continues to behave arrogantly without showing any change in its position, without properly understanding our repeated demand, the DPRK could add something to its policy to direct all efforts toward economic construction adopted in April . the word "pyongjin" could appear again, "said the statement, which uses the common abbreviation of the official name of North Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"The United States will not be able to sidestep a pitiful future that could harm itself and the world only when they give up their longing and unilateral point of view," he writes.

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