North Korea Reportedly Ditches Nuclear Freeze Pledge, May Seek ‘New Path’ For Weapons

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While all eyes are fixed on the start of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, a bombshell went off in negotiations with North Korea over the country’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

Reuters reported Tuesday that North Korea said “it was no longer bound by commitments to halt nuclear and missile testing, blaming the United States’ failure to meet a year-end deadline for nuclear talks,” as well as sanctions.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un had set an end of year deadline for denuclearization talks with the U.S., per Reuters. North Korean officials claimed the country had stopped nuclear tests pending those talks, but in light of the United States conducting joint military exercises with South Korea, the country argued it is no longer bound by those commitments.

“As it became clear now that the U.S. remains unchanged in its ambition to block the development of the DPRK and stifle its political system, we found no reason to be unilaterally bound any longer by the commitment that the other party fails to honor,” North Korean representative Ju Yong Chol told the U.N. Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

Ju bashed new U.S. sanctions on the country and said North Korea might seek a “new path” to continue with its weapons program, according to AFP.

“If the U.S. persists in such hostile policy toward the DPRK there will never be the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” he said. “If the United States tries to enforce unilateral demands and persists in imposing sanctions, North Korea may be compelled to seek a new path.”