Denuclearization is off the negotiating table in talks with the United States, North Korea’s envoy to the United Nations declared Saturday.

In a reference to President Trump’s 2020 re-election bid, Ambassador Kim Song said the “sustained and substantial dialogue” sought by the US was a “time-saving trick” to suit the nation’s domestic political agenda.

“We do not need to have lengthy talks with the US now and denuclearization is already gone out of the negotiating table,” Kim said in the statement made available to Reuters.

The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Kim missive raises the stakes on an earlier warning from North Korea that discussions related to its nuclear weapons program, the centerpiece of US engagement with the rogue nation in the past two years, could be scrapped due to Washington’s unwillingness to offer concessions.

Tensions have risen ahead of a year-end deadline set by North Korea, which has demanded relief from punishing sanctions and called on America to change its policy demanding Pyongyang’s unilateral denuclearization.

Earlier this week, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry repeated a call for Washington to change its “hostile policies” and said it was up to Washington to decide what “Christmas gift” came at the end of the year.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ominously warned about taking a “new path” next year, raising fears this could mean a return to the nuclear bomb and long-range missile testing suspended since 2017.

With Post wires