Linda Thomas-Greenfield has been on a tour of Asia since Sunday. The North Korean Foreign Ministry described it as a "loser's trip to revive weakened illegal sanctions and pressure against the DPRK with the help of allies inferior." On Tuesday, the diplomat visited South Korea, where she called on Pyongyang to open up to dialogue, saying that sanctions against the reclusive country were an effective tool to thwart its nuclear development plans.
North Korea said on Friday that the U.S. has not returned to the world, but the world has abandoned the United States. The visit came after Russia exercised its veto in March to terminate the committee monitoring sanctions against Kim Jong-un's regime, which Pyongyang criticized as unfair and illegal.