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N Korea leader lambasts ‘brigandish’ sanctions: KCNA
SEOUL, Aug 17, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attacked
“hostile forces” over “brigandish” sanctions, state media reported Friday, as
Washington seeks to maintain pressure on Pyongyang over its nuclear
programme.
Kim and US President Donald Trump held a groundbreaking summit in
Singapore in June, which the US leader touted as a historic breakthrough.
But there has been little movement since and the North has criticised
Washington for its “gangster-like” demands for complete, verifiable and
irreversible disarmament.
The US has urged the international community to maintain tough sanctions
on the isolated regime, and the US Treasury this week announced measures
against Russian and Chinese companies for violations.
On a visit to the construction site of the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist
area, Kim rebuked what he called “hostile forces” for “trying to stifle the
Korean people through brigandish sanctions and blockade”, the Korean Central
News Agency (KCNA) reported.
But Pyongyang is keen to preserve what it calls a “new era” of relations
with the US and Kim stopped short of criticising the country by name.
Wonsan-Kalma is a vast development on the North’s east coast, which Kim
ordered to be ready by October 10 next year, an important public holiday
which marks the founding of a precursor to the ruling Workers’ Party of
Korea.
BSS/AFP/RY/10:40 hrs