Seoul, January 1: North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un on his New Year address warned the United States of America that though it wants good relations, but if the promises made in front of the whole world are not kept, then the latter might have to be prepared for the consequences. Un also stated that it insists the US to revoke all the sanctions imposed on North Korea.

Addressing the nation on Tuesday, the nuclear-armed nation head said, as quoted by news agency AFP, “If 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." Kim Jong Un Expected to Ring in 2019 with Big Policy Speech.

The statement of Un comes after 12 months of diplomatic rapprochement between North Korea and the United States. Un and US President Donald Trump met with US President Donald Trump during a summit in Singapore in June, where they signed a vaguely worded pledge on denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

However, the North Korean Dictator also stated that he is willing to meet Trump again ‘to produce a result that will be welcomed by the international community’.

Demanding sanctions relief, Un condemned US insistence on its nuclear disarmament as ‘gangster-like’. It is to be known that the United States has put several sanctions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. On the other side, US is pushing to maintain the measures against the North and waiting until its ‘final, fully verified denuclearisation’. Due to this, the progress in building good relations between the two nations has stalled.

Reacting on Un’s speech former South Korean vice unification minister Kim Hyung-seok stated that NK dictator ‘expressed his frustration with the lack of progress in negotiations so far.’ He added, “The North Korean leader obviously had certain expectations that the US would take certain steps – however rudimentary they are – after the North blew up a nuclear test site and took other steps. But none of them materialised.” Top International Headlines of 2018: From Donald Trump to Kim Jong Un to Jamal Khashoggi - All Important News That Made Waves Around The World This Year.

Adding more, Seok said, “He is faced with this urgent task to improve his 'socialist economy' – which is impossible to achieve without lifting of the sanctions."

Earlier on January 1, 2018, Un had declared that ‘North Korea would no longer produce, test, use or spread its nuclear arsenal’ and called for the US to take ‘corresponding measures’.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 01, 2019 02:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).