N Korea blames US 'nuke blackmail' for tensions
North Korea blamed US "nuclear blackmail" for soaring tensions over its weapons programme following rare meetings with a senior UN official, but agreed to regular communication with the organisation, state media said Saturday.
Jeffrey Feltman flew to Beijing Saturday after wrapping up a five-day visit to Pyongyang aimed at defusing the crisis, just a week after North Korea said it test-fired a new ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.
His trip -- the first by a UN diplomat of his rank since 2010 -- saw him meet Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho and vice foreign minister Pak Myong-Kuk, and visit medical facilities supported by the UN, the North's state news agency KCNA said.
"At these meetings, our side said the US policy of hostility toward the DPRK (North Korea) and its nuclear blackmail are to blame for the current tense situation on the Korean peninsula," the report said.
It added that the North had agreed with the UN "to regularize communications through visits at various levels".
Feltman, the UN's under-secretary-general for political affairs, visited the country just after US and South Korea launched their biggest-ever joint air exercise.
Pyongyang reiterated its view that these manoeuvres were a provocation, accusing the drills of "revealing its intention to mount a surprise nuclear pre-emptive strike against the DPRK".
US President Donald Trump has engaged in months of tit-for-tat rhetoric with Kim, pejoratively dubbing him "Little Rocket Man" and a "sick puppy".
Kim has called the 71-year-old president a "dotard", meaning a weak or senile old man -- an insult that was renewed yesterday as the North condemned Trump for recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Comments