Online
\nPyongyang
\nNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said he is committed to denuclearisation, but warned he will change course if the US continues its sanctions.
\nHe made the remarks during his closely-watched annual New Year\u2019s address.
\nLast year\u2019s speech set the country on an unprecedented path of international diplomacy with South Korea and the US.
\nKim met US President Donald Trump to discuss denuclearisation in June 2018 but with few results so far.
\nLast year\u2019s rapprochement came after a turbulent 2017 marked by North Korea testing missiles that could reach the US mainland and an escalation in rhetoric between Pyongyang and Washington with both sides trading insults and threats of nuclear destruction.
\nThe annual New Year\u2019s address is a tradition Kim picked up from his grandfather, founder of the communist country, Kim Il-sung.
\nThe speech is aimed primarily at a domestic audience and like previous year focussed largely on the economy, but international observers scan every line for clues to Pyongyang\u2019s international agenda as well.
\nIn this year\u2019s speech, broadcast on state television early on Tuesday, Kim said \u201cif the US does not keep its promise made in front of the whole world… and insists on sanctions and pressures on our republic, we may be left with no choice but to consider a new way to safeguard our sovereignty and interests\u201d.
\nNorth Korea is subject to various sets of United Nations Security Council sanctions related to its banned nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programmes.
\nKim said that North Korea had already pledged not to make, use or spread nuclear weapons and had taken concrete steps to implement this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Online Pyongyang North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said he is committed to denuclearisation, but warned he will change course if the US continues its sanctions. He made the remarks during his closely-watched annual New Year\u2019s address. Last year\u2019s speech set the country on an unprecedented path of international diplomacy with South Korea and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n