Washington (CNN)North Korea is warning that recent US sanctions could take relations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea back to the bristling tension of last year and endanger efforts to remove nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula.
The warnings come after the US Treasury Department issued sanctions against three high-level North Korean officials last week that seemed aimed at driving a wedge between President Donald Trump, who has spoken glowingly of leader Kim Jong Un, and the rest of the administration, which is pursuing a “maximum pressure” campaign against Pyongyang.
An editorial in the state-owned news service KCNA warned that the sanctions could bring “DPRK-US relations back to the status of last year which was marked by exchanges of fire,” and added that they are out of step with the White House.
