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By Associated press
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea has warned that it could revive a national policy aimed at strengthening its nuclear arsenal if the United States does not lift economic sanctions against the country.
The statement issued Friday night by the Foreign Ministry inscribed in a climate of discomfort between Washington and Seoul against the use of sanctions and pressure for the North to give up its nuclear program.
The ministry said North Korea could resume its "pyongjin" policy of simultaneously advancing its nuclear force and economic development if the United States does not change its position.
The North has not threatened to abandon the ongoing nuclear negotiations with the United States.
But he accused Washington of misrepresenting the commitments made by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump during their June summit in Singapore to work on a Korean peninsula without nuclear energy, without specifying how and when that would happen.
In an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that he was planning to meet with his North Korean counterpart next week, apparently evoking the high North Korean leader Kim Yong Chol.
Pompeo has not indicated the location and date of the meeting, which will likely aim to persuade North Korea to take stronger steps towards denuclearization and setting up a second summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un.
"There is still a lot of work to be done, but I am confident that we will keep the economic pressure in place until President Kim respects the commitment he made to President Trump in June. in Singapore, "said Pompeo.
The statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Korea, published under the name of the director of the US Institute of American Studies, said that "the improvement of relations and sanctions is inconsistent" .
"The United States believes that their often repeated" sanctions and pressures "lead to" denuclearization. "We can not help but laugh at such a stupid idea," he said. The ministry described the lifting of sanctions imposed by the United States as a corresponding action to the "proactive and goodwill measures" of the North, apparently making reference to its unilateral suspension of nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests and to the closure of a nuclear test site.
After a series of provocative and missile nuclear tests last year, Kim turned to diplomacy when he met Trump between three summits with South Korean President Moon Jae- in, which strongly incited to revive the nuclear diplomacy between Washington and Seoul.
However, the North plays hard from the top. He insists that the sanctions should be lifted before any progress in the nuclear talks, which has fueled doubts about whether Kim would succeed in eliminating a nuclear program that he considered his greatest guarantee of survival.
Before his first summit with Moon in April, Kim said the country should focus more on economic development, with the "pyongjin" policy having won a "big victory". He also said the North would stop testing nuclear and long-range missiles. The North dismantled its nuclear test center in May, but did not invite experts to observe and verify the event.
Friday's statement marked the first time the North had declared that it could resume weapons testing and other development activities since Kim announced a new national policy in April.
"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 towards economic construction adopted in April and, therefore, the word "pyongjin" could appear again, "the statement said, referring to North Korea under its official name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"Pyongjin" means "double advancement".
Moon described the inter-Korean commitment as crucial to solving the nuclear stalemate. A large number of South Korean CEOs accompanied Moon during her visit to Pyongyang in September.
The two leaders agreed to standardize operations in a jointly managed industrial park and to resume the trip of South Korean visitors to the North, to the extent possible, expressing optimism that international sanctions could come to an end and allow such projects.
But South Korea's enthusiasm for its relations with its rival has also created unease in the United States, as the North fears more and more of dragging its feet with its promise of denuclearization.
South Korea last month came back on a proposal to lift some of its unilateral sanctions against North Korea to create a diplomatic space following Trump's direct response that Seoul could "do nothing" without Washington's approval.
