North Korea accuses US of playing ‘double game’ over sanctions, and ‘responding to good faith with evil’

North Korea’s state media on Tuesday slammed the United States for an “evil” attempt to maintain sanctions against Pyongyang, accusing President Donald Trump of blocking progress in inter-Korean relations.

The declaration threatens to upset the negotiations between Washington and the nuclear-armed North, in which Trump is expected to hold a second summit soon with Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong-un.

At their first meeting in Singapore in June they signed a vaguely worded pledge on denuclearisation, but little progress has been made since then with the two sides sparring over the meaning of the text.

Pyongyang has not made any explicit public promise to give up its existing arsenal but has repeatedly called for UN Security Council sanctions imposed over its weapons programmes to be loosened, citing a freeze in its nuclear and missile tests.

For its part, Washington has been adamant the measures should be maintained until Pyongyang’s complete denuclearisation.

Washington was playing a “double game”, said a lengthy commentary carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency, and was “little short of destroying” the rare diplomatic opportunity between the two.

“Hostile policy and reciprocity cannot go together,” it said, and negotiations would not move forward “an inch with an obstacle called sanctions”.