The U.S. State Department has once again stressed its stance on North Korea remains unchanged,... explaining sanctions and pressure against the regime will stay in place until the regime achieves denuclearization.
Kim Hyo-sun reports.
The U.S. State Department's Deputy spokesperson Robert Palladino said during a regular briefing Tuesday that the State Department's stance on North Korea remains the same.
He also explained the international community will continue with the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions to highlight the fact that the only way for Pyeongyang to be guaranteed security and development,... is to discard its weapons of mass destruction.
Palladino also made clear that Washington's goal is the "final, fully verified denuclearization" of the regime,... while underscoring the importance of international cooperation.
Meanwhile,... U.S. Senator Cory Gardner, who chairs the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, has criticized President Trump's latest withdrawal of new sanctions aimed at the North.
Speaking at a hearing of the Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday,... he explained that the committee should be frustrated with the administration's continued change in policy.
Victor Cha, a North Korea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, also expressed concerns at the same hearing that once the North's leader loses interest in sanctions relief,... President Trump will face difficulties making progress with the regime,... adding this may put the safety of U.S. citizens at risk.
Such criticism comes as Trump tweeted late last week that he had (quote) "ordered the withdrawal of additional large-scale sanctions against North Korea."
Kim Hyo-sun, Arirang News.