INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Tension on the DMZ has eased but US-North Korea talks appear stalled
North Korea has denounced the latest US sanctions, saying they could "block the path to denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula
forever".Washington said it put the sanctions on three top officials, after a report threw up a raft of human rights abuses.A historic
summit between the nations' leaders this summer appeared to point the path towards better relations.The period since then has seen North
Korea engage both in angry exchanges and actions that have reduced tension.There have been suggestions of a second leaders' summit
Although President Donald Trump has indicated he is open to the idea he said this week that he was in no hurry.What has North Korea saidIn a
statement, the North Korean administration expressed "shock and indignation" at the new US sanctions.The statement carried by the North
Korean news agency KCNA accused the US state department of being "bent on bringing relations back to the status of last year which was
marked by exchanges of fire".In the verbal exchanges last year, President Donald Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a "little
rocket man" whose threats would be "met with fire and fury like the world has never seen"
Among the North's many rebukes, it called Mr Trump an "old lunatic".The latest North Korean statement said the US policy of "maximum
pressure" would be its "greatest miscalculation" and that it should instead return to the confidence building that was hoped for following
the leaders' summit in Singapore.What are the new sanctionsThey followed a state department report on the North that is regularly required
by Congress.The US vowed to seize the US assets of Mr Kim's right-hand man, Choe Ryong-hae, and two others, security minister Jong
Kyong-thaek and propaganda official Pak Kwang-ho.State department spokesman Robert Palladino said: "Human rights abuses in North Korea
remain among the worst in the world and include extrajudicial killings, forced labour, torture, prolonged arbitrary detention, rape, forced
abortions and other sexual violence."What has happened since SingaporeAt the June summit, the two leaders signed an agreement to work
towards the denuclearisation of the peninsula
But it did not include a timeline, details or any mechanisms to verify the process.Image copyrightAFPImage caption
A
second summit has been hinted at but not yet agreed
Since the summit, there have been some successes, but most notably in
inter-Korean relations.Only this week, North and South Korean soldiers made several friendly crossings into each other's territory for the
first time since the countries were divided, checking the dismantling of guard posts in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ).US-North Korea
relations are more stalled.Working-level talks between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korea's Kim Yong-chol were cancelled
abruptly in November and have not been rescheduled.Personal ties between the leaders appear relatively unaffected, if somewhat
unpredictable.In September, Mr Trump praised a "very warm" letter from Mr Kim on a follow-up summit.But, as the TheIndianSubcontinent's
Laura Bicker in Seoul points out, the insurmountable obstacle remains - the North's nuclear weapons.The US maintains it will never allow
an agreement to formally end the Korean war, nor will it lift economic sanctions imposed upon the North, while the Kim administration poses
