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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Photo: AFP

North Korea warns US of ‘Christmas gift’ as its deadline to save denuclearisation talks looms

  • Senior diplomat Ri Thae-song says US diplomacy has been a ‘foolish trick’ that does not offer North Korea its desired sanctions relief
  • Talks held in Sweden in October broke down over what the North Koreans described as ‘old stance and attitude’ held by US
North Korea
North Korea on Tuesday repeated its assertions the Trump administration is running out of time to salvage nuclear negotiations, saying it’s entirely up to the US to choose what “Christmas gift” it gets from the North.
The statement attributed to a senior diplomat came as North Korea continues to dial up pressure on Washington and Seoul ahead of leader Kim Jong-un’s end-of-year deadline for the US to offer mutually acceptable terms for a deal.
Negotiations have faltered since a February summit between Kim and President Donald Trump broke down after the US rejected North Korean demands for broad sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

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Working-level talks held in Sweden in October broke down over what the North Koreans described as the Americans’ “old stance and attitude”.
Ri Thae-song, a vice foreign minister handling US affairs, accused Washington of repeating talk offers aimed at buying time without offering real solutions. Ri reiterated earlier North Korean statements that the country has no intentions to continue the nuclear diplomacy unless it gets something substantial in return.

“The dialogue touted by the US is, in essence, nothing but a foolish trick hatched to keep the DPRK bound to dialogue and use it in favour of the political situation and election in the US,” he said, referring to North Korea by its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “What is left to be done now is the US option and it is entirely up to the US what Christmas gift it will select to get.”

A projectile is fired during North Korea’s recent tests. Photo: Reuters

Kim has said he would seek a “new path” if the US persists with sanctions and pressure. The North has tested a series of new solid-fuel missile systems in recent months, which experts say potentially expands its ability to strike targets in South Korea and Japan. It has also threatened to lift a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests and resume launches over Japan.

Kim and Trump exchanged crude insults and war threats amid a provocative run in North Korean nuclear and missile tests in 2017, but both leaders have described their personal relationship as good since they began their high-stakes nuclear summitry in 2018.

After the North tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile in July 2017, Kim called the missile a “package of gifts” to the Americans for their Fourth of July holiday.

Kim Jong-un marks the completion of the construction of the township of Samjiyon. Photo: AFP
Also on Tuesday, Kim opened a flagship construction project close to Mount Paektu, a symbol of the Korean nation and the supposed birthplace of his father and predecessor, state media reported.

The North has poured huge resources into the rebuilding of Samjiyon, the closest town to the dormant volcano that straddles the border with China. The project is on a vast scale and includes a museum of revolutionary activities, a winter sports training complex, processing plants for blueberries and potatoes, and 10,000 flats.

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Kim had “worked heart and soul to turn Samjiyon County, the sacred place of the revolution, into the utopia town under socialism”, the North’s official KCNA news agency said.

According to North Korean propaganda the elder Kim was born at the nearby Mount Paektu Secret Camp where his own father Kim Il-sung was fighting the Japanese – although independent historians and Soviet records say he was actually born in Russia, where the North’s founder was in exile.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: ‘Christmas gift’ up to you, US warned
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