North Korea: Nuclear talks 'impossible' unless US lifts sanctions

North Korea said today it could not return to international nuclear disarmament talks unless the US lifted sanctions imposed for its alleged currency counterfeiting and other illegal activities.

“While under US sanctions, it’s impossible to sit face to face and discuss abandoning our nuclear deterrent ... with a counterpart who seeks to isolate and stifle us,” said the Rodong Sinmun, the North’s ruling Workers Party newspaper, in a Korean-language commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.