A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry issued the following statement on August 9:
At the first historic DPRK-US summit meeting and talks, the top leaders committed themselves to working together to put an end to the extremely hostile relations through confidence-building and establish new bilateral relations in line with the demands and interests of the peoples of the two countries and to making a positive contribution to peace, security and prosperity on the Korean peninsula and in the world.
Since late last year we have discontinued nuclear test and ICBM test fire, which was followed by such practical denuclearization steps as the dismantling of the nuclear test site, but the US unilaterally insisted on the DPRK’s “prior denuclearization” at the first DPRK-US high-level talks held in Pyongyang in early July.
However, we took such generous measures as repatriating POW/MIA remains for the sake of confidence-building between the two countries, the foremost and indispensable process in implementing the joint statement of the DPRK-US summit.
We hoped that these goodwill measures would contribute to breaking down the high barrier of mistrust existing between the countries and to establishing mutual trust, but the US responded to our expectation with inciting the international community to sanctions and pressure against the DPRK.
The US is trying to invent a pretext for increased sanctions against the DPRK by mobilizing all its servile mouthpieces and intelligence services to make all kinds of concoctions concerning the DPRK’s nuclear weapons. It made public a “north Korea sanctions and enforcement actions advisory” and additional sanctions, and clamoured for collaboration in imposing sanctions and pressure on the country even at international meetings.
Worse still, it has committed such despicable acts as to hinder international organizations’ cooperation with the DPRK in the sports field and to force other countries not to send high-level delegations to the celebrations of the 70th founding anniversary of the DPRK.
The point is that some high-ranking officials of the US administration are picking on the DPRK groundlessly and desperately trying to intensify international sanctions and pressure as they go against the will of President Trump, who intends to develop DPRK-US relations while expressing gratitude to the DPRK for its goodwill measures for implementing the DPRK-US joint statement.
It is as good as waiting to see a boiled egg hatch to expect any result while insulting the dialogue partner and throwing cold water over its sincere efforts for confidence-building, a precondition for implementing the joint statement.
The international community is reacting with dismay to the shameless, brazen behaviour of the US, and we also closely follow the US actions with heightened vigilance.
As long as the US administration clings to the time-worn and failed script used by its predecessors while throwing away even the basic decorum towards its dialogue partner, no progress can be expected in the implementation of the joint statement, including denuclearization, and there is no guarantee that the hard-won atmosphere of stability on the Korean peninsula will continue.
We remain unchanged in our will to build confidence and sincerely implement the joint statement step by step true to the intention of the top leaders of two countries. The US should, though belatedly, respond to our sincere efforts in kind.
