North Korea says continued U.S. sanctions foster 'mistrust,' make denuclearization less likely

"Without any trust in the U.S. there will be no confidence in our national security and under such circumstances there is no way we will unilaterally disarm ourselves first," said North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho at the United Nations Saturday.

"The perception that sanctions can bring us on our knees is a pipe-dream of the people who are ignorant about us," he continued, reiterating a regular complaint from the Kim Jong Un regime. "But the problem is that the continued sanctions are deepening our mistrust" in the United States.

Ri argued Washington has not reciprocated goodwill gestures — like "stopping nuclear and ICBM tests, dismantling the nuclear test site in a transparent manner, and affirming not to transfer nuclear weapons and nuclear technology under any circumstances" — from Pyongyang. The Trump administration says sanctions will continue until denuclearization is complete.

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Read more here at The Week on what President Trump wants from North Korea, why "peace or war" may be a false dichotomy here, and what a plausible roadmap to peace might look like.