North Korea Warns America: ‘There Is a Limit to Our Patience’

The North Korean regime warned the United States on Wednesday there is a “limit to our patience” with regards to negotiating a potential peace treaty, accusing the Trump administration of scheming to “annihilate us by force” rather than make concessions on sanctions.

The statement, put out by a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, claimed the regime had engaged in “ceaseless efforts” to honor commitments set out by the two sides during their meeting in Singapore last year for a new, peaceful relationship between the two countries.

The joint declaration, signed by President Donald Trump and dictator Kim Jong-un, included vague pledges to “build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula” with the aim of achieving the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

North Korea often uses the term “denuclearization” to mean the removal of U.S. forces from the Korean peninsula, as America is a nuclear power.

“However, it is regrettable to see that the United States has become ever more undisguised during the past year in its scheme to annihilate us by force while deliberately turning its face away from the implementation of the DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement and only insisting on our unilateral surrender of nuclear weapons,” the Ministry said in their statement.

The statement goes on to argue that Washington’s “biggest mistake” was on their repeated insistence that North Korea dismantle their illegal nuclear program before agreeing to lift economic sanctions:

At the second DPRK-U.S. summit talks held in Hanoi amid the great interest and expectation of the entire world, the United States made the biggest mistake of having missed a lifetime opportunity by insisting on “dismantlement of the nuke first.” This overshadows the future of the DPRK-U.S. talks.

Had the United States done anything of a little help in addressing the issues on the basis of serious position and sincere attitude for implementing the DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement, the issue of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula might also have seen much progress.

Although the statement does not specifically mention the lifting of economic sanctions, North Korea has on nearly every other occasion cited the Trump administration’s refusal to lift any sanctions as the major obstacle to furthering negotiations.

“Nearly one year now since the declaration of the historic June 12 DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement, the U.S. should duly look back on the past one year and cogitate about which will be a correct strategic choice before it is too late,” the statement concludes. “The U.S. would be well-advised to change its current method of calculation and respond to our request as soon as possible. There is a limit to our patience.”

During the second meeting between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in February, Trump walked out after the two sides failed to reach a deal. Trump had previously indicated that the regime would have to take “meaningful” action on dismantling their nuclear weapons program, at a time when most experts suggested that the regime is continuing to build up and expand its nuclear arsenal.

“The sanctions are on in full. I haven’t taken sanctions off, as you know,” Trump said at the time. “I’d love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something that’s meaningful on the other side.”

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