North Korea News: Kim Jong Un Regime Threatens US With 'Harsh Suffering' If No Nuclear Deal By Deadline

The North Korean government on Wednesday threatened the United States over planned military drills with South Korea and claimed that the U.S. will face a "bigger threat and harsh suffering" if Washington fails to meet a year-end deadline for a nuclear deal.

“The United States must show self-restraint and refrain from careless actions at a sensitive time when the joint exercises can send the political situation of the Korean Peninsula back to square one,” an unidentified spokesperson for North Korea's State Affairs Commission said in a statement. Although the drills between the U.S. and South Korea have been scaled back, South Korea's defense ministry has said that the drills will take place in the coming weeks.

One of North Korea's top diplomats, Kwon Jong Gun, said last week that the joint military drills are "throwing a wet blanket over the spark" of nuclear negotiations that are "on the verge of extinction."

The U.S. and North Korea are in the midst of nuclear negotiations, where North Korea would curb its nuclear program in exchange for reduced sanctions. North Korea has set a deadline for the end of the year for the deal to be made.

A South Korean official said last week that Washington and Pyongyang could resume talks in early December.

In early October, negotiations between North Korean and U.S. officials broke down on the first day of talks. U.S. officials had described the talks as "good" while a top North Korean negotiator said the talks had "not fulfilled our expectations and broke down. I am very displeased about it."

President Trump has previously met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss the issue in Hanoi in February and in Singapore in 2018. Although the two leaders have had a friendly rapport, they have failed to come up with a comprehensive nuclear deal.

Democrats have slammed Trump's friendly meetings with Kim, arguing that it empowers a ruthless dictator. Former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton has argued that North Korea will never give up its nuclear program.