North Korea on Sunday said that constant pressure and military threats from the United States was not conducive to addressing the issue of achieving denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
"It would not be conducive to addressing the issue if the U.S. miscalculates the peace-loving intention of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) as a sign of 'weakness' and continues to pursue its pressure and military threats against the latter," an unnamed spokesman for the North Korean foreign ministry said in an interview with the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), citing South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.
"Recently, the US is misleading the public opinion, arguing as if the DPRK's clarification of its intention for denuclearization of the Korean peninsula made through the Panmunjom Declaration adopted at the historic North-South summit is the result of so-called sanctions and pressure," the spokesman added.
North Korea asserted that the US was "deliberately" provoking the former, at a time when relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have cooled down rapidly following the historic inter-Korean summit last month.
"At the same time, it is making open remarks that it would not ease the sanctions and pressure until the DPRK gives up its nuclear weapons completely and also moving to aggravate the situation on the Korean Peninsula by deploying strategic assets on the peninsula and increasing its attempt to taking up 'human rights' issue against the DPRK. This act cannot be construed otherwise than a dangerous attempt to ruin the hardly-won atmosphere of dialogue and bring the situation back to square one," he further said.
The statements come ahead of a planned summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump in the next few weeks.
The Trump-Kim summit will be the first of its kind as it is the first meeting between a US President and a North Korean leader since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
The two sides are likely to discuss the possible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)