North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Tuesday that he wishes to renew a pledge to denuclearise and ready to meet US president Donald Trump, but warned he may have to take an alternative path if U.S. sanctions and pressure against the country continued.
Having met for the first time with Donald Trump in Singapore in June 2018, the Korean leader in his New Year address, spoke of his satisfaction at the positive turn in relations with Seoul, expressing his wish to turn the armistice agreed at the end of the 1950-53 war into a fully-fledged peace deal.
A key message of his speech was reserved for Washington, offering a gesture of peace that he said could equally be withdrawn if the US did not meet Pyongyang’s expectations on the nuclear disarmament process. He also demanded an end to South Korea’s joint military exercises with the US.
“I am always ready to sit down again with the US president at any time and will make efforts to produce an outcome that the international community would welcome,"
"(But) we could be left with no choice but to seek a new way if the US does not make good on its promises, misjudges our patience, while seeking to force things unilaterally and clinging to sanctions and pressure,"
“If the US responds to our active and preemptive efforts with trustworthy steps and corresponding behavior, [relations] will move forward at an excellent and fast pace," said the Korean leader.
