(LEAD) N. Korea says its moratorium on nuclear, missile testing is over

(ATTN: UPDATES with details in last 2 paras)

GENEVA, Jan. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korea declared Tuesday on the global stage that it will no longer adhere to its moratorium on nuclear and missile tests, citing "brutal and inhumane" sanctions led by the United States on its regime.

"We found no reason to be unilaterally bound any longer by the commitment that the other party fails to honour," Ju Yong-chol, a counsellor at North Korea's mission to the United Nations in Geneva, reportedly said during the U.N.-backed Conference on Disarmament.

He accused Washington of applying "the most brutal and inhumane sanctions" against Pyongyang.

He warned that if the U.S. maintains such "hostile policy," there will never be the denuclearization of Korea.

"If the United States tries to enforce unilateral demands and persists in imposing sanctions, North Korea may be compelled to seek a new path," he added, according to Reuters.

In 2019, the reclusive communist nation set a year-end deadline for the U.S. to make concessions for the resumption of nuclear talks.
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