nuclear-news

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had earlier set a December 31 deadline for denuclearisation talks with the US and White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said at the time the US had opened channels of communication.

Mr O’Brien said he hoped Kim would follow through on denuclearisation commitments he made at summits with US President Donald Trump.

However, that now would appear to be off the table with North Korea announcing at the United Nations-backed Conference on Disarmament that it was no longer interested in talks.

“We found no reason to be unilaterally bound any longer by the commitment that the other party fails to honour,” Ju Yong Chol said while in Geneva.

Speaking as the envoy from the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK), he accused the US of applying “the most brutal and inhuman sanctions”.

“If the US persists in such hostile policy towards the DPRK there will never be the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” Mr Ju added.

“If the United States tries to enforce unilateral demands and persists in imposing sanctions, North Korea may be compelled to seek a new path.”……https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-22/north-korea-ends-nuclear-talks-with-us/11887832