Discord over nuclear deal

North Korea and the United States traded blows over implementing a disarmament deal adopted at a landmark summit in June, as Washington called for maintaining sanctions pressure against the North, which said it was alarmed at US intentions.

The discord was the latest reminder of the difficulties that have long impaired efforts to negotiate an end to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes.

“The DPRK stands firm in its determination and commitment for implementing the DPRK-US Joint Statement in a responsible and good-faith manner,” North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho told a regional forum held in Singapore yesterday.

DPRK refers to his country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Ri made the statement after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had left the conference for Indonesia.

At the summit on June 12, US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who is seeking relief from tough sanctions, committed to work towards denuclearisation, but Pyongyang has offered no details on how it might go about this.

Pompeo pressed Southeast Asian nations in Singapore this week to maintain sanctions on North Korea but said he was optimistic that the deal to end the North’s nuclear programme would work out.

“We have initiated goodwill measures of, inter alia, a moratorium on nuclear tests and rocket launch tests and dismantling of nuclear test ground,” Ri said in a statement to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) forum.

“However, the United States, instead of responding to these measures, is raising its voice louder for maintaining the sanctions against the DPRK ...”