US SECRETARY of State Mike Pompeo has said he will meet in New York this week with North Korea’s number two, Kim Yong-chol, to resume denuclearisation talks.

Mr Pompeo’s announcement comes just a day after North Korea’s foreign ministry said the North will “seriously” consider reviving its nuclear weapons program unless US sanctions are lifted.

“I will be meeting this week in New York City with my counterpart, Kim Yong-chol,” he said on Fox News, adding that it would be “a good opportunity to continue the denuclearisation discussions”.

‘SUCH A FOOLISH IDEA’
On Friday evening, a statement released by North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Pyongyang could bring back its “pyongjin” policy of simultaneously advancing its nuclear force and economic development if the United States doesn’t lift economic sanctions against the country.

The North Korean Foreign Ministry statement, released under the name of the director of the ministry’s Institute for American Studies, said the “improvement of relations and sanctions is incompatible.”

“The US thinks that its oft-repeated ‘sanctions and pressure’ leads to ‘denuclearisation.’ We cannot help laughing at such a foolish idea,” it said.

The ministry described the lifting of US-led sanctions as corresponding action to the North’s “proactive and goodwill measures,” apparently referring to its unilateral suspension of nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests and closure of a nuclear testing ground.

Following a series of provocative nuclear and missile tests last year, Kim Jong-un shifted to diplomacy when he met with US President Donald Trump between three summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who lobbied hard to revive nuclear diplomacy.

However, the North has been playing hardball since the summits, insisting that sanctions should be lifted before any progress in nuclear talks, which has fuelled doubts about whether Kim Jong-un would ever deal away a nuclear program he may see as his strongest guarantee of survival.

“If the US keeps behaving arrogantly without showing any change in its stand, while failing to properly understand our repeated demand, the DPRK may add one thing to the state policy for directing all efforts to the economic construction adopted in April and as a result, the word ‘pyongjin’ may appear again,” Friday’s statement said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“Pyongjin” means “dual advancement.”