In a commentary published Thursday by the official Korean Central News Agency, a North Korea Foreign Ministry spokesperson accused U.S. diplomats of arriving at recent working-level talks in Sweden with an “empty hand, thus breaking them off.” The two countries have sought a deal by which North Korea would abandon its nuclear weapons in exchange for peace, security and the lifting of international sanctions, but Pyongyang has accused Washington of maintaining a maximalist position and of continuing to take provocative steps, such as last week’s nuclear-capable Minuteman III ICBM test out of California.

“As recognized by the international community, the United States conducted the recent intercontinental ballistic missile test-fire in a bid to pressure the DPRK. The DPRK can give tit for tat, but we are now exercising a restraint under the judgment that a counteraction is not necessary yet and it is still premature,” the North Korean official’s statement read, using an acronym for North Korea’s official name.

“But there is a limit to our patience and there is no guarantee that all our patience would continue indefinitely,” the official added.

The U.S. test, which the Pentagon said “demonstrates the United States’ nuclear deterrent is robust, flexible, ready and approximately tailored to deter twenty-first-century threats and reassure our allies,” came a day after North Korea tested an SLBM off the country’s east coast. The medium-range weapon, officially called Pukguksong-3, is the farthest-flying and first nuclear-capable missile to be tested by North Korea since its own previous ICBM test nearly two years ago.

That test came during a period of heightened tensions between President Donald Trump and North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un that lasted throughout 2017 but eventually gave in to both inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korea peace talks the following year. Ahead of his debut meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Trump, Kim pledged to suspend nuclear tests and longer-range missile launches.

This self-imposed moratorium silenced North Korea’s missiles for nearly a year and a half, but after Trump and Kim’s second meeting failed to produce an agreement in February, two series of short-range weapons tests were conducted in May. Then too, the U.S. conducted a Minuteman III test at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California shortly after the North Korean launch.

As talks again appeared to stall, the two leaders once again came together, this time alongside Moon, for a historic meeting at the border between the two Koreas, still technically a warzone, in late June. As the U.S. and South Korea pressed ahead with joint military drills, however, North Korea began a new series of short-range tests that would last through September.

The Trump administration has mostly brushed off these displays, as well as last week’s SLBM test, acknowledging them as violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions but not commitments made by Kim to the U.S. leader. In response to European condemnations, North Korean officials have repeatedly stated that the country does not acknowledge U.N.-imposed restrictions on its missile program.

Despite this, six European nations including Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom expressed their “condemnation” toward North Korea’s SLBM test in a joint statement issued after a Security Council meeting. The North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson blasted the sextet in Thursday’s statement, accusing them of remaining silent towards the recent U.S. ICBM launch.

“The UNSC which champions fairness and equity picks fault with the just measure belonging to our right to self-defense while keeping mum about the test-fire of Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile recently conducted by the U.S. This is a serious provocation against the DPRK,” the official said, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The Europeans had also called for North Korea “to engage in good faith in meaningful negotiations with the United States,” but Pyongyang and Washington exited their Stockholm talks with diverging messages of what transpired behind closed doors.

A graphic shows a broad overview of missile tests carried out by North Korea since 1984, based on data compiled by the Nuclear Threat Initiative. North Korea has demonstrated more advanced missile technology with a higher success rate in recent years.  Source: Statista

North Korean chief negotiator Kim Myong Gil told reporters that “the negotiations have not fulfilled our expectations and finally broke up” because “the U.S. would not give up their own viewpoint and attitude.” The State Department, however, argued that his comments “do not reflect the content or the spirit of today’s 8 1/2 hour discussion” and argued that the U.S. “brought creative ideas and had good discussions with its DPRK counterparts.”

“The United States and the DPRK will not overcome a legacy of 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula through the course of a single Saturday. These are weighty issues, and they require a strong commitment by both countries,” it added. “The United States has that commitment.”

A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson hit back with a statement Sunday, accusing the U.S. side of “spreading a completely ungrounded story that both sides are open to meet after two weeks.” The official said the country had “no intention to hold such sickening negotiations as what happened this time before the U.S. takes a substantial step to make complete and irreversible withdrawal of the hostile policy toward the DPRK.”

“We have already made it clear that if the U.S. again fingers at the old scenario which has nothing to do with new calculation method, the dealings between the DPRK and the U.S. may immediately come to an end,” the official added. “As we have clearly identified the way for solving the problem, the fate of the future DPRK-U.S. dialogue depends on the U.S. attitude, and the end of this year is its deadline.”

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/north-korea-deal-missile-patience-1464439

The post North Korea tells U.S. to come up with deal or face bigger missile tests: ‘There is a limit to our patience’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

SEOUL -North Korea Thursday warned its “patience is running out” and threatened to increase provocations following the breakdown of nuclear talks with the United States.

The warning is the latest evidence North Korea is returning to a more combative posture after walking away from the first substantive nuclear negotiations in months.

A statement in the Korean Central News Agency accused the U.S. of orchestrating this week’s meeting of the United Nations Security Council, which condemned North Korea’s recent missile launch.

The KCNA statement, attributed to a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson, called that U.N. meeting a “severe provocation.” It also condemned the recent U.S. test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

“Our patience is running out, and it is not guaranteed that what we have been restraining from will last indefinitely,” the statement said.

FILE – North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator Kim Myong Gil is seen outside the North Korean Embassy in Stockholm, Oct. 5, 2019.

North Korea stormed out of working-level nuclear talks last week, accusing the U.S. of not bringing any new ideas to help break the months-long deadlock.

Earlier this week, European members of the Security Council called on North Korea to engage “in good faith in meaningful negotiations with the United States.”

The European U.N. ambassadors also condemned North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test as a violation of Security Council resolutions.

Since early May, North Korea has conducted 11 rounds of missile tests, most of which involved ballistic missile technology that North Korea is banned from possessing.

North Korea’s latest launch was October 2, involving a medium-range ballistic missile Pyongyang says was meant to be launched from a submarine.

Hours later, the U.S. Air Force tested an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. The Air Force said such tests “are not a response or reaction to world events or regional tensions.”

North Korea disagrees.

“The U.S. launch of the intercontinental ballistic missile was clearly aimed to pressure us,” North Korea’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said Thursday. The North could respond, it added, but said: “We believe it is too early and not necessary to do so.”

FILE – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the testing of a super-large multiple rocket launcher in North Korea, in this undated photo released Sept. 10, 2019 by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in April 2018 announced he was stopping ICBM and nuclear tests. The announcement came amid renewed diplomacy with the U.S. and South Korea.

However, North Korean officials have since threatened to resume the tests several times, amid the breakdown in talks.

“It looks like North Korea is using the U.S. as a pretext for escalating military action if talks don’t work out,” said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a Seoul-based analyst at NK News, a publication that focuses on North Korea affairs.

U.S. President Donald Trump has played down the North’s missile tests, saying they are not long-range and do not threaten the United States.

The U.S. has also attempted to put a positive spin on the talks.

After North Korea walked away last week, the U.S. State Department characterized the discussions as “good” and said U.S. negotiators accepted a Swedish invitation to return to the talks in two weeks.

North Korea has said such a follow-up meeting is not likely.

Source: https://www.voanews.com/usa/north-korea-threatens-increased-provocations-following-breakdown-nuclear-talks

The post North Korea Threatens Increased Provocations Following Breakdown in Nuclear Talks first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.