N. KOREA WARNS OF RETURN TO NUKE POLICY

Pyongyang will ‘seriously reconsider’ state policy if US does not lift sanctions

NORTH Korea has warned the United States it will “seriously” consider returning to a state policy aimed at building nuclear weapons if Washington does not end tough economic sanctions against the impoverished regime.

For years, the North had pursued a “byungjin” policy of developing its nuclear capabilities alongside the economy.

In April, citing a “fresh climate of detente and peace” on the peninsula, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared the nuclear quest complete and said his country would focus on “socialist economic construction”.

But a statement issued by the North’s Foreign Ministry said Pyongyang could revert to its former policy if the US did not change its stance over sanctions.

“The word ‘byungjin’ may appear again and the change of the line could be seriously reconsidered,” said the statement carried by the official KCNA news agency on Friday.

At a historic summit in Singapore in June, US President Donald Trump and Kim signed a vaguely-worded statement on denuclearisation.

But little progress has been made since then, with Washington pushing to maintain sanctions against the North until its “final, fully verified denuclearisation” and Pyongyang condemning US demands as “gangster-like”.

“The improvement of relations and sanctions are incompatible,” said the statement, released under the name of the director of the Foreign Ministry’s Institute for American Studies.

The statement is the latest sign of Pyongyang’s increasing frustration with Washington.

Last month, the North’s state media carried a near 1,700 wordlong commentary accusing the US of playing a “double game”, implicitly criticising Trump for his comments aimed at barring Seoul from lifting sanctions against Pyongyang.

In an interview with Fox News on Friday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said sanctions would remain until Pyongyang carried out denuclearisation commitments, adding that he would meet with his North Korean counterpart next week.