N. Korea says talks won’t resume until U.S. eases demands

SEOUL — North Korea said Friday that nuclear negotiations with the United States will never resume unless the Trump administration moves away from what Pyongyang described as unilateral demands for disarmament.

The statement by an unnamed North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman published in state media was the country’s latest expression of displeasure over the stalled negotiations as it continues to press Washington to soften its stance on enforcing sanctions against the isolated nation’s crippled economy.

It came as President Trump prepared to travel to Japan for a summit this weekend with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in which the North Korean nuclear issue will probably be high on the agenda.

In the statement carried by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency, the spokesman accused the U.S. of deliberately causing February’s collapse of talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with unilateral and impossible demands.

“We hereby make it clear once again that the United States would not be able to move us even an inch with the device it is now weighing in its mind, and the further its mistrust and hostile acts toward the DPRK grow, the fiercer our reaction will be,” the statement said, referring to North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The U.S. has said the talks broke down because of North Korean demands for sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

Friday’s statement follows two launches of shortrange missiles this month, which ended a pause in North Korea’s ballistic missile launches that began in late 2017 and which was seen as measured brinkmanship aimed at increasing pressure on the U.S. without dooming the negotiations.