Pyongyang: North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un threatened that his country would have to “seek a new way” if the United States “does not make good on its promises” with regard to denuclearisation and continues with sanctions.
“I am always ready to sit down again with the US President [Donald Trump] at any time and will make efforts to produce an outcome that the international community would welcome,” Kim said on Monday during his New Years speech, reported Yonhap News Agency.
“…We could be left with no choice but to seek a new way if the U.S. does not make good on its promises, misjudges our patience, while seeking to force things unilaterally and clinging to sanctions and pressure,” he highlighted during his speech.
He reaffirmed his country’s commitment to denuclearisation, while stating that US-North Korea relations could improve if the United States responded in a corresponding manner to the state’s efforts towards denuclearisation.
“If the U.S. responds to our active and preemptive efforts with trustworthy steps and corresponding behaviour, (the North-U.S. relations) will move forward at an excellent and fast pace in the process of taking concrete and innovative measures,” Kim said.
The North Korean leader further showed his resolution towards better relations with South Korea and mentioned, “We will never tolerate outside interferences and interventions intended to block our way toward reconciliation, unity and unification of our people while trying to make our relations scummy to their states and interests.”
Kim called for the complete end to joint military exercises between South Korea and the USA and put forth that foreign military strategic assets in the Korean peninsula are a “source” of tension.
Even though engagements between the United States and North Korea reached new heights in 2018 with the Trump-Kim summit in June in Singapore, the last few months of the year saw a stalemate in relations.
North Korea has time and again asked for corresponding measures by the US for its efforts towards denuclearisation. The United States, on the other hand, has pushed for complete denuclearisation before a relaxation in sanctions, with the latest sanctions by both the United Nations and the United States adding to the halt in talks between the two nations.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]