Using pressure to force denuclearisation?

May 6, 2018

N.Korea: Pressure will not resolve nuclear issue

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180506_16/

North Korea has criticized the US and Japan for using pressure to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson made the remark via state-run media on Sunday.

The US administration has said it will maintain a policy of maximum pressure on North Korea until the country takes concrete measures for denuclearization.

The spokesperson said the actions of the US are a dangerous attempt to ruin the hard-won atmosphere of dialogue and bring the situation back to square one.
The spokesperson also said it would not be conducive to resolving the issue of denuclearization if Washington continued to pursue its pressure and military threats.

Analysts say Pyongyang is hoping that the US will ease sanctions through the planned US-North Korea summit and other dialogue.

An editorial in Sunday's edition of the ruling Workers' Party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, also criticized Japan for trying to seek dialogue with the North by following the example of the US and South Korea. It says Japan is trying to take a free ride to Pyongyang, where a peaceful wind is blowing.

The editorial warns that Japan will not be able to step on North Korean territory for hundreds of millions of years as long as it retains such an insolent intention.
It demands that Japan should abandon the policy of maintaining pressure on the North.