N Korea warns to resume nuke programme, slams sanctions

Bloomberg

North Korea stepped up its attack on US-led sanctions, threatening to resume its nuclear program if the measures aren’t lifted.
The Foreign Ministry’s Institute for American Studies said it could revive its policy of economic construction and nuclear development if sanctions continue. The US “had better stop the self-destructive act of putting pressure” on the North, the Korean Central News Agency cited director Kwon Jong Gun as saying.
The measures hamper South Korea from pursuing cooperation projects with the North, according to the institute in a statement. That echoes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s recent comments, saying that “vicious” sanctions stand in the way of promoting the country’s development and lead instead “to change and submission.”
The remarks come a week before a planned meeting between US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and North Korean official Kim Yong Chol to discuss details of a potential second summit between Kim and President Donald Trump. Pompeo and Kim will likely be accompanied by special envoy Stephen Biegun and North Korea’s Choe Son Hui.
Hours after the statement, satellite imagery seen by 38 North suggested that North Korea is continuing uranium mining and milling operations at one of the country’s largest uranium ore concentrate facilities.

Kim plans to meet bunch of world leaders
Bloomberg

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is planning an unprecedented flurry of summits with world leaders, as he steps up his push to ease sanctions four months after a landmark meeting with US President Donald Trump.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in told parliament Thursday that Kim would likely visit Russia and South Korea “soon” while he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Pyongyang in the near future. Moon, who made the remarks, said the North Korean leader could also possibly hold a separate meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
As Kim boosts ties with South Korea — as well as China and Russia — he’s stepping up his complaints about the sanctions crimping plans to develop his impoverished economy. He leveled some of his most blunt criticism yet of the restrictions while visiting a construction site in the city of Wonsan, according to KCNA.
“The hostile forces are foolishly keen on vicious sanctions to stand in our way towards promotion of people’s well-being and development and to lead us to change and submission,” KCNA cited Kim as saying, without specifying who he was referring to.
“They will be made to clearly see over time how our country that has built its own strength hundreds of times defying hardship.”