North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

Pyongyang : North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, for the second time in less than a week, slammed international sanctions on his country, state media reported on Sunday.

“The hostile forces’ persistent sanctions and obstructive moves come as a serious setback to the advance of our socialism,” Kim Jong-un said during the inspection of a reconstruction project in the Samjiyon district, where his late father and former leader, Kim Jong-il, was born.

The North Korean leader, who was accompanied by his wife Ri Sol-ju and senior officials of the ruling Workers’ Party, said that despite the sanctions, the country was making history with “legendary miracles despite the most difficult conditions”, reports Efe news.

Kim’s comments comes two days after KCNA published a report where the leader had described the sanctions as “brigandish” during a visit to an under-construction site at the Wonsan-Kalma tourist area.

Since Kim’s meeting with US President Donald Trump on June 12 in Singapore, North Korea, through state and foreign media, has criticized the sanctions imposed on the country by the US and asked that they be lifted although Kim has rarely criticised the sanctions openly.

The US insists that it would retain sanctions on the regime until it takes concrete steps toward denuclearization.

On Wednesday, the US government imposed sanctions against Russian and Chinese companies with alleged links to North Korea for facilitating “illicit shipments” on behalf of Pyongyang.

—IANS