North Korea attacks US in UN speech for 'little progress' and increasing tension

More than a year after Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a joint statement in Singapore, US-North Korea relations "have made little progress so far and the situation of the Korean Peninsula has not come out of the vicious cycle of increased tension," North Korea's representative to the United Nations told the General Assembly on Monday morning.

Kim Song, chair of North Korea's delegation, told the UN that this was "entirely attributable to the political and military provocations perpetrated by the US resorting to the anachronistic hostile policy against the" Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The North Korean statement stands as a direct rebuttal to Trump's repeated insistence that his decision to embrace the repressive dictator has produced progress toward the goal of ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons.

'Hasten the crisis'

The statement comes on a day when the President's former national security adviser, John Bolton, publicly aired his disagreement with Trump's North Korea strategy, telling an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, that he doesn't believe North Korea will ever surrender its nuclear weapons.

Bolton also dismissed Trump's argument about the lack of nuclear and long-range missile testing, saying North Korea no longer needs to test them, as it already has the technology in place.

In June, Trump said Kim Jong Un has "kept his word" when it comes to nuclear and missile testing -- a direct contradiction of Bolton, who just hours earlier had accused Pyongyang of failing to follow through on its commitments.

On Monday, Kim Song told the UN that "it depends on the US whether the DPRK-US negotiations will become a window of opportunity or an occasion that will hasten the crisis."

The North Korea representative also said the full implementation of the joint statement signed by Trump and Kim Jong Un in June 2018 is "the key to consolidating peace and stability and achieving development on the Korean Peninsula."

Immediately after that summit, Trump announced that the US would stop "provocative" joint military exercises with South Korea. Those have since resumed in a limited fashion.

'Big-power politics'

Kim Song said Monday that "the introduction of the latest offensive weapons and the US-South Korea joint military exercises targeting the DPRK constitute flagrant violation and challenge to the agreement in military field on completely halting hostile acts against the other side and refraining from building up armed forces for implementation of the Panmunjom Declaration."

That joint agreement, made in April 2018 by North and South Korea, said the two sides would "make active efforts to seek the support and cooperation of the international community for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

The declaration is now at a "standstill without even advancing into the main phase of implementation," Kim Song said, citing South Korea's participation in joint military exercises with the US.

Relations between North Korea and South Korea can be achieved only when Seoul ends "big-power worship and the policy of dependence on foreign forces encroaching upon the common interests of the nation," he said.

He attributed the breakdown to "the double-dealing behavior of the South Korean authorities who performed the act of 'handshake of peace' before the world people, but behind the scene introduce ultra-modern offensive weapons and hold joint military exercises with the U.S. targeting the DPRK."

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