North Korea says it won’t surrender to US-led sanctions

TIL Desk/World/Seoul/ North Korea said Wednesday it won’t surrender to U.S.-led sanctions and accused Washington of trying to “bring us to our knees.”  The statement is yet another reminder that North Korea keeps mistrust of the U.S. though its leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump recently exchanged letters.

Their second summit in Hanoi in February ended without any agreement due to disputes over the extent of sanctions relief North Korea should win in return for a limited denuclearization step. The North’s Foreign Ministry said it “will not hesitate to pull a muscle-flexing trigger in order to defend ourselves” if anyone dares to trample over its sovereignty.

It accused the U.S. of maintaining hostility toward North Korea. It cited recent U.S. reports on alleged human trafficking and religious crackdowns in North Korea, and comments by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that some 80-plus percent of the North Korean economy is sanctioned. Pompeo “let loose a sophistry as if the sanctions are rendering the bilateral talks possible,” said the statement.