ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

North Korea has accused the US of being “hell-bent” on hostile acts, despite a recent agreement between the two countries to resume nuclear talks.

Pyongyang’s UN Mission said the US was “inciting an atmosphere of sanctions”.

Its statement comes days after Donald Trump became the first US president to enter North Korea as he met Kim Jong-un for talks.

A press statement from the mission pointed a finger at US efforts to exert "overt pressure" and have the world's nations implement UN sanctions.

It said the US and 23 other countries sent a letter to the UN Security Council committee monitoring sanctions on North Korea demanding urgent action "under the absurd pretext of 'excess in the amount of refined petroleum imported"'.

The US and the other countries accused North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), of violating UN sanctions by importing far more than the annual limit of 500,000 barrels of refined petroleum products, which are key for its economy.

But last month Russia and China blocked the sanctions committee from declaring that Pyongyang breached the annual import limit.

North Korea's UN Mission said the US, Britain, France and Germany then circulated a joint letter to all UN member states on June 29 "calling for repatriation of the DPRK workers abroad, thus inciting an atmosphere of sanctions and pressure against the DPRK".

That day, Mr Trump issued an unprecedented invitation to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas.

Mr Kim accepted, and at their Sunday meeting Mr Trump became the first sitting US president to set foot in North Korea when he crossed the demarcation line.

The pair agreed at the meeting to restart negotiations designed to denuclearise the Korean peninsula.

North Korea's state media described their meeting as "an amazing event".

But there was nothing positive in Wednesday's statement from North Korea's UN Mission, which made no mention of nuclear talks, focusing instead on sanctions.