Kim's gift to Trump!
BREAKING
North Korea Is No Longer Bound by Nuclear Test Moratorium, Kim Says
Kim Jong-un said North Korea was free of a self-imposed pause on testing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, which President Trump had called a diplomatic victory.
By Choe Sang-Hun
Dec. 31, 2019, 5:59 p.m. ET
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, said his country no longer felt bound by its self-imposed moratorium on testing nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles, its official media reported on Wednesday in the strongest indication yet that the country could soon resume such testing.
Mr. Kim also said the world would witness a new strategic weapon “in the near future,” according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, though no details were provided.
North Korea has not conducted a long-range missile test or a nuclear test in more than two years. Mr. Kim had announced his moratorium at a time when he hoped negotiations with the United States — and his budding personal relationship with President Trump — would prompt the United States to begin lifting crippling sanctions.
Mr. Trump has often cited the North’s restraint as a major diplomatic achievement. The two leaders have met three times.
The North had set a Dec. 31 deadline for the United States to make concessions, including the lifting of at least some sanctions, complaining that its 18 months of diplomacy with Mr. Trump had yielded limited results. And for weeks, American officials feared Mr. Kim might test an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM.
Mr. Kim is expected to make his annual New Year’s address within hours, and it remains unclear if a test is imminent. It is possible that Mr. Kim’s announcement on Wednesday is, by itself, the warning shot he wants to send in an effort to force Mr. Trump, on the eve of a presidential election year, to begin to lift sanctions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/31/world/asia/north-korea-kim-speech.html?campaign_id=60&instance_id=0&segment_id=19964&user_id=75ee940ebe2fd3e9d0a6bb93cf283302®i_id=16112385
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