Kim Jong Un warns US on sanctions

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said he is committed to denuclearization but warned he will change course if the US continues its sanctions.

He made the remarks during his closely-watched annual New Year's address.

In a wide-ranging, 30-minute speech, Kim said that relations with Washington would progress at a "fast speed" if the US engages in some form of give-and-take, adding that he was ready to meet with US President Donald Trump at any time.

"I'll endeavor towards a result that will be welcomed by the international community," Kim said of the potential second meeting between the two leaders.

Last year's speech set the country on an unprecedented path of international diplomacy with South Korea and the US.

Kim met US President Donald Trump to discuss denuclearisation in June 2018 but with few results so far.

The annual New Year's address is a tradition Kim picked up from his grandfather, founder of the communist country, Kim Il-sung.

The speech is aimed primarily at a domestic audience and, like in previous years, focused largely on the economy, but international observers scan every line for clues to Pyongyang's international agenda as well.

In this year's speech, broadcast on state television early on Tuesday, Kim said "if the US does not keep its promise made in front of the whole world... and insists on sanctions and pressures on our republic, we may be left with no choice but to consider a new way to safeguard our sovereignty and interests".

North Korea is subject to various sets of United Nations Security Council sanctions related to its banned nuclear and ballistic missile weapons programmes.

It was in last year's New Year's message that Kim announced North Korea would take part in the Winter Olympics hosted by the South, which led to a thaw in relations.

After a flurry of diplomatic activity, in April Kim Jong-un met South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a summit at the inter-Korean border.

They met another two times after that but the most historic summit of 2018 was the North Korean leader's meeting with US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June.

In what was the first time a North Korean leader met a sitting US president, the two signed a vaguely phrased agreement to improve ties and work towards denuclearisation.

Since the Trump-Kim summit though, less progress has been made than at least optimists had been hoping for.

While the North has stopped missile and nuclear testing, there's been little indication that Pyongyang is working towards complete and verifiable denuclearisation as the US has called upon it to do.