During the first-ever summit between North Korea and Russia, leader Kim Jong-un has said on Thursday security and peace over the Korean peninsula directly and entirely dependent upon the United States attitude towards Pyongyang, Korean state media KCNA reported on Friday.
Kim’s remarks were viewed as ratcheting up pressure on US President Donald Trump to be more flexible in the future nuclear summit and to ease sanctions, according to Reuters news reports.
KCNA quoted Kim as saying: “The situation on the Korean peninsula and the region is now at a standstill and has reached a critical point where it may return to its original state as the U.S. took a unilateral attitude in bad faith at the recent second DPRK-U.S. summit talks.”
Kim and Putin met to attend their maiden summit, amid a deadlock between North Korea and the United States over complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The North Korean leader said the DPRK will “grid itself for every possible situation”. Moreover, Kim extended an invitation to Putin to pay a visit to North Korea at a “convenient time”, and the offer was “readily accepted” by the Russian president.
However, no immediate comment or remark was reported from the US state department, but US envoy to Japan William Hagerty told the US think thank that Kim’s close contact with China and Russia was a part of an effort seeking international sanction reliefs.
Hagerty said, “The fact you see Kim Jong Un meeting with Vladimir Putin underscores the fact that the sanctions are working and the sanctions are putting extreme economic pressure on the North Korean regime.”
He underlined the importance of enforcing UN sanctions against Pyongyang by the international community, that were in line because of North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests.
Russia and North Korea agreed to take measures to further cooperate in trade, economy, science and technology, KCNA said.
Also read: Russia’ Vladimir Putin ‘readily’ accepts Kim Jong-un’ invitation to visit North Korea
Kim Jong-un has extended an invitation on Thursday to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to pay a visit to Pyongyang at “a convenient time” and the offer was “readily accepted” by Kim. The visit invitation comes after Kim and Putin held talks in the Russian port city of Vladivostok.
Also read: North Korea’ Kim Jong-un holds first-day talks with Russia’ Putin Vladimir
Kim was hosted by Vladimir Putin on Thursday at their very-first summit venue, intended to express the United States was not the only one with enough power to engage with a solitary communist state with talks aimed at Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.
Kim, who arrived in Vladivostok yesterday via train, stated the situation over the Korean peninsula “is an issue that the world is very interested in”.