- Kim Jong Un suggested in a New Year's speech two months ago that if the US didn't ease sanctions on North Korea, Pyongyang could resort to military escalation.
- On Thursday, he and President Donald Trump ended their summit in Vietnam early because Kim refused to give up enough nuclear sites, and the US refused to relax all sanctions on North Korea, according to Trump.
- In his New Year's speech Kim said that if the US "persists in imposing sanctions and pressure" he will find a "new way for defending the sovereignty" of the country.
- North Korea said it had stopped testing nuclear missiles in April 2018.
Kim Jong Un warned two months ago that if the US didn't ease sanctions on North Korea that he would seek a new, potentially military, way to defend his country's sovereignty.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said he was unable to strike a deal with Kim at their meeting in Vietnam because Kim was only willing to give up some of his nuclear sites in exchange for total sanctions relief, which Trump refused to concede.
In his New Year's Day speech this year, Kim said that his country "may be compelled to find a new way" to defend itself if the US didn't lift sanctions. Trump confirmed to reporters on Thursday that all of current US sanctions are still "in place, yes."
Sitting on a leather chair with a black suit and grey tie last month, Kim hinted that the lack of sanctions relief — as was seen in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Thursday — could merit a military response or escalation.
"If the United States does not keep the promise it made in the eyes of the world, and out of miscalculation of our people's patience, it attempts to unilaterally enforce something upon us and persists in imposing sanctions and pressure against our Republic," he said, according to a translation by the state-run Rodong Sinmun, "we may be compelled to find a new way for defending the sovereignty of the country and the supreme interests of the state and for achieving peace and stability of the Korean peninsula."
Watch the New Year's address here:
How important are sanctions to North Korea? In a New Year speech, Kim said that if the US “tries to unilaterally force us to do something, and continues with sanctions… we might have no choice but to reluctantly seek a new way to defend the country's sovereignty” pic.twitter.com/bJ908DLANh
— BBC Monitoring (@BBCMonitoring) February 28, 2019
The alternative means of defense that Kim mentioned in the speech could be the restarting of nuclear missile tests — which North Korea said it ended last April, and which Kim affirmed his commitment to halting on Thursday.
Kim's speech last month could also hint at an expansion of the 12 nuclear sites that already exist in the country.
Prior to the summit US intelligence and North Korea experts repeatedly warned that Pyongyang is unlikely to give up its nuclear arms. An intelligence report published last month reiterated the idea that the country's leaders view nuclear arms as "critical to regime survival."
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