Kim Jong Un Warns United States in New Year’s Address

Kim Jong Un said that he was open to a new sit-down with President Donald Trump, but followed that with thinly veiled threats against the United States if the country attempt imposes more sanctions on North Korea.

The North Korean leader shared his message to the U.S. and his own country as part of his New Year’s address, the Daily Beast reports.

“If the U.S. fails to carry out its promise, we might be compelled to explore a new path for defending the sovereignty of our country and supreme interests of our state and achieving peace and stability of the Korean peninsula,” he said, before adding that the U.S. “break[s] its promises and misjudges our patience by unilaterally demanding certain things and pushes ahead with sanctions and pressure.” 

In spite of the obvious warning, Kim said that he was available if Trump wanted to talk about the future of both the DPRK and the United States. In the half-hour long address, Kim said that he is “always ready to sit together with the U.S. president any time in the future.”

Kim made it clear that he thinks the United States and North Korea could “produce results welcomed by the international community,” but not if the U.S. continues imposing sanctions on the country. The message comes just a few months after the country announced it would restart its nuclear program if sanctions were not lifted.

In addition to sending a message to the U.S., the message is meant to put pressure on South Korea so that they might push the international community to lift sanctions. Kim said he hopes to work to improve relations with South Korea, but noted that it won’t be possible with the North’s current pressure from the rest of the world.