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North Korea: Washington Is Undermining Trump/Kim Agreement

Urges U.S. to drop sanctions immediately.

The budding friendship between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un is looking a little less rosy Monday morning. North Korea’s state media accused Washington of “acting opposite” to Trump and Kim’s agreement to improve ties between their countries, and demanded some reward for its goodwill gestures, such the dismantling of a nuclear site and the return of the remains of U.S. soldiers killed in the Korean War. “There have been outrageous arguments coming out of the U.S. State Department that it won’t ease sanctions until a denuclearization is completed, and reinforcing sanctions is a way to raise its negotiating power,” an editorial in the government mouthpiece newspaper Rodong Sinmun states. “How could the sanctions, which were a stick the U.S. administration had brandished as part of its hostile policy against us, promote the two countries’ amity?” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called for maintaining sanctions against North Korea, saying the country’s continued work on its weapons programs was inconsistent with Kim’s commitment to denuclearize.