North Korea condemns latest US sanctions

North Korea condemned the U.S.' most recent round of sanctions in a statement on Sunday. It said if the U.S. doesn't turn down the heat on Pyongyang, it may never denuclearize.

The statement comes after news Monday that the U.S. would impose sanctions on three North Korean officials for abuses of human rights.

It represents a step backward for relations between the two countries. A summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump earlier this year led to hopes that Pyongyang would make moves toward denuclearization.

Planned talks between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and an official from North Korea were canceled in November and have not been rescheduled.

In a statement, the North Korean administration expressed "shock and indignation" at the new US sanctions.

The statement carried by the North Korean news agency KCNA accused the US state department of being "bent on bringing... relations back to the status of last year which was marked by exchanges of fire".

In the verbal exchanges last year, President Donald Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a "little rocket man" whose threats would be "met with fire and fury like the world has never seen". Among the North's many rebukes, it called Trump an "old lunatic".

The latest North Korean statement said the US policy of "maximum pressure" would be its "greatest miscalculation" and that it should instead return to the confidence building that was hoped for following the leaders' summit in Singapore.