DPRK warns over latest US sanctions

Pyongyang says Washington's move may 'block path to denuclearization'

Pyongyang on Sunday condemned Washington over its latest sanctions on three senior DPRK officials, warning the decision could "block the path to denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula forever".

A research institute under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea issued a statement on Sunday night calling the United States' decision to sanction the officials a "miscalculation to drive us into giving up nuclear weapons by way of increasing anti-DPRK sanctions and pressure".

The statement issued by the policy research director of the Institute for American Studies of the foreign ministry was released by the DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency on Monday.

The US Treasury Department announced on Dec 10 that it would impose sanctions against vice-chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea's Central Committee Choe Ryong-hae, Minister of State Security Jong Kyong-thaek and Pak Kwang-ho, director of the WPK's Propaganda and Agitation Department, saying the three officials are "linked to serious human rights abuses and censorship".

In response, Pyongyang's statement said the US' decision was "bent on bringing the DPRK-US relations back to the status of last year, which was marked by exchanges of fire".

Yu Shaohua, former director of the Asia-Pacific Institute at the China Institute of International Studies, said the recent downturn in relations between the DPRK and the US was due to Pyongyang's efforts at denuclearization not receiving substantial credit, especially from the US. In particular, Washington's response has been lukewarm with only some "tactical moves" without substantive policy or strategic tweaks toward Pyongyang.

Yu said the knot lies in that the US and the DPRK have different demands in mind.

"Pyongyang hopes that a peace treaty can be signed to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War, to which Washington disagrees. And Pyongyang now turns to an alternative, hoping that international sanctions on the country can be eased, if not lifted. But the US still insists that the DPRK give a full declaration of its nuclear program up front and even wants Pyongyang to permanently do away with its nuclear weapons.

"That has led to the current predicament on the peninsula issue", she added.

Talks between Pyongyang and Washington have made little progress since DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump agreed to a vaguely worded statement putting the Korean Peninsula on the path toward denuclearization when they met in Singapore in June.

The two sides have yet to reschedule working-level talks between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his DPRK counterpart, Kim Yongchol, that was supposed to have taken place in New York in early November. That meeting was postponed indefinitely after the two sides failed to find common ground over Pyongyang's demand for sanctions relief and calls by Washington for progress on denuclearization.

Stephen Biegun, the US special representative on DPRK policy, is due to visit Seoul this week for talks with Republic of Korea officials aimed at salvaging the derailed denuclearization negotiations with Pyongyang, Japan's Kyodo News said.

Xinhua and AFP contributed to this story.