North Korea: "No Interest in Sanctions Relief... Will Urge 'Action-Oriented Response'"

Expert: "North Korea Moderates Its Stance... Implies 'Sanctions Relief' as Prerequisite for North Korea-US Talks"

North Korea on the 24th opposed the international community's sanctions against it, stating that they would prompt a 'responsive action.'

On the same day, the Rodong Sinmun conveyed a statement from the Director of the Foreign Policy Department of North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs containing this message. In the statement, the Director said, "For us, who have no sanctions left to remove or receive, lifting sanctions through negotiations has long ceased to be a concern and is not on our agenda."

This response came after the first statement was released last week by the Multinational Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), operated by 11 countries including South Korea, the United States, and Japan, to oversee the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea. The MSMT's inaugural meeting was held on the 19th (local time) in Washington, USA, with officials from the second Trump administration also participating.

The Director of the Foreign Policy Department criticized the international community's moves to monitor sanctions against North Korea as "anachronistic acts by hostile forces foolishly attempting to obstruct the legitimate exercise of rights by unjustly interfering." He sharply warned, "We sternly caution that this could cause serious adverse effects." He added, "We will never be obsessed with sanctions, but we will not tolerate even the slightest provocation by the United States and its follower countries attempting to infringe upon our legitimate sovereign rights under the pretext of enforcing sanctions, and we will respond strongly with resolute actions."

However, North Korea is assessed to be moderating its tone by not having a high-ranking official directly issue the critical statement this time. Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies said, "When the MSMT was established last October, Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui issued a statement directly, but this time, although the content is largely similar, the tone was softened and released under the name of the Director of the Foreign Policy Department." He interpreted this as, "The stance of 'not being obsessed with sanctions' indirectly implies that lifting sanctions is a prerequisite for the resumption of North Korea-US talks."