But US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo publicly warned Russia and China against softening sanctions during a trip to Singapore last week.
In a high-profile meeting this year with Donald Trump, the North Korean leader promised to “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”, but in reality has shown little will to curb nuclear weapons development.
State-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun, which is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, wrote in a Monday editorial: “There have been outrageous arguments coming out of the US State Department that it won’t ease sanctions until a denuclearisation is completed, and reinforcing sanctions is a way to raise its negotiating power.”
The US has demanded Kim Jong-un relinquish his nuclear weapons before sanctions are lifted.
The North Korean newspaper added: “How could the sanctions, which were part of the US administration’s hostile policy against us, promote the two countries’ amity?”
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The state-run publication contends Pyongyang has shown good faith by ending nuclear weapons testing, dismantling its Punggye-ri nuclear test site and returning the remains of 200 soldiers who died during the Korean War.
On Monday, one of North Korea’s propaganda websites, Uriminzokkiri, called the US sanctions against North Korea “anachronistic,” while Maeri, another North Korean website, called for the US to build confidence in response to North Korea’s recent “goodwill measures”.
The website said: “It takes two to tango.”
Business Insider also reported that Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for South Korea’s presidential Blue House, said that South Korea “would want North Korea to speed up denuclearisation, and the United States to show a sincere attitude toward what North Korea demands as corresponding action”.
North Korea’s comments come after the UN released a report professing that Pyongyang had failed to cease its nuclear and missile operations.
The 149-page report said: “North Korea has not stopped its nuclear and missile programs and continued to defy Security Council resolutions through a massive increase in illicit ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products, as well as through transfers of coal at sea during 2018.”
In July this year, NATO leaders called for sustained pressure and ongoing sanctions enforcement on North Korea, during a summit of the 29 member states taking place in Brussels.
And in September, the UN Security Council tightened the sanctions regime against North Korean crude oil and petroleum imports.
Despite relations improving somewhat between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in the last several months – following the historic Singapore summit in June – the US has repeatedly stressed the sanctions against Pyongyang will remain in place.
The sanctions will only be lifted when Pyongyang can categorically prove the communist country has achieved complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation, according to Washington.