Trump reverses new sanctions on DPRK

WEST PALM BEACH - US President Donald Trump on Friday reversed sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea just a day earlier and the White House said he was doing so because he "likes" DPRK leader Kim Jong-un and did not consider them necessary.

"It was announced today by the US Treasury that additional large-scale Sanctions would be added to those already existing Sanctions on DPRK," Trump tweeted from his Florida resort of Mar-a-Lago. "I have today ordered the withdrawal of those additional Sanctions!"

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders did not specify which sanctions Trump spoke of, but said: "President Trump likes Chairman Kim and he doesn't think these sanctions will be necessary."

The White House and US Treasury did not immediately respond to requests for clarification. The State Department referred queries to the White House.

Trump's Twitter post appeared not only at odds with the Treasury Department, but with his own national security adviser, John Bolton, a hardliner who DPRK blamed for the breakdown of a second Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi last month.

Trump has stressed his good personal relationship with Kim and his administration has stressed its willingness to reengage with DPRK. 

There has been no sign of direct contact between Washington and Pyongyang since the Feb 27-28 meeting in Hanoi, however, and DPRK has warned it is considering suspending talks and may rethink a freeze on missile and nuclear tests, in place since 2017, unless Washington makes concessions.

Hours after Thursday's sanctions announcement, DPRK on Friday pulled out of a liaison office with South Korea, a major setback for Seoul, which has pushed hard for engagement between Washington and Pyongyang.

The joint liaison office was set up in September in the border city of Kaesong after a historic summit between Kim Jong-un and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in early last year.

Reuters