North Korea aims to build 'more reliable' force against US, slams Trump's photo ops

In what seems to be another dent in the US-North Korea relationship, North Korea on Friday said that its goal is to build up a "more reliable" force against long-term military threats from the United States. This statement comes from North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son-gwon as the two countries marked the second anniversary of the first-ever summit of US President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un, held in Singapore on June 12, 2018.

 "The secure strategic goal of the DPRK is to build up more reliable force to cope with the long-term military threats from the US. This is our reply message to the US on the occasion of the second anniversary of June 12," Ri said in a statement quoted by Korean Central News Agency. 

"What stands out is that the hope for improved DPRK-US relations -- which was high in the air under the global spotlight two years ago -- has now been shifted into despair," Ri added.

"Never again will we provide the US chief executive with another package to be used for achievements without receiving any returns."

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Why is the North unhappy? 

Ri voiced frustration over the US administration alleging that the latter is simply accumulating 'political achievements' without any significant steps on the ground to fulfill the promises made at the summit.

"The question is whether there will be a need to keep holding hands shaken in Singapore, as we see that there is nothing of factual improvement to be made in the DPRK-US relations simply by maintaining personal relations between our Supreme Leadership and the US President," he said.

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“In retrospect, all the practices of the present US administration so far are nothing but accumulating its political achievements. Never again will we provide the US chief executive with another package to be used for achievements without receiving any returns,” he said. “Nothing is more hypocritical than an empty promise.”

Ri's statement was in response to the US administration which said that it is committed to engaging with DPRK and willing to take a flexible approach to reach a balanced agreement on all of the Singapore summit commitments.

The first summit between sitting leaders of the two countries produced a joint statement committing North Korea to work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula in return for US security guarantees. The two sides also agreed to work together to improve bilateral relations, build a lasting and stable peace regime on the peninsula, and repatriate the remains of American service members killed during the 1950-53 Korean War.

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North Korea cuts communication lines with South Korea

The DPRK regime has even lambasted at the US administration for interfering in the North and the South Korean Korean relations warning the US over its upcoming presidential election. The warning by DPRK came after the US administration made a remark that it supported the improvement of the inter-Korean relations but was disappointed by the DPRK, urging the North to return to diplomacy and cooperation. The US administration's statement was in response to North Korea's decision to suspend communication lines with South Korea.  

“If the U.S. pokes its nose into others' affairs with careless remarks, far from minding its internal affairs, at a time when its political situation is in the worst-ever confusion, it may encounter an unpleasant thing hard to deal with,” Kwon Jong Gun, director-general for US affairs at North Korea’s Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by state-run KCNA.

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