North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho took a swipe at the United States on Saturday over its continued push for international sanctions against his country, warning that Pyongyang will never unilaterally abandon its nuclear weapons if it cannot trust Washington.

Addressing the U.N. General Assembly, he said North Korea is "unwavering" in its commitment to denuclearization and called on the United States to make good on promises made at the historic summit between President Donald Trump and the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, in Singapore in June.

"Without any trust in the U.S., there will be no confidence in our national security and under such circumstances there is no way we will unilaterally disarm ourselves first," Ri said.

The remarks came as the United States and North Korea appeared to have put their stalled denuclearization talks back on track after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Ri in New York earlier this week and agreed to visit Pyongyang in October to prepare for a second bilateral summit.

Ri said North Korea has taken "significant goodwill measures" such as halting nuclear and ballistic missile tests and dismantling a nuclear test site.

The United States, however, has not shown "any corresponding response," he said, noting that Washington still insists on strictly enforcing U.N. sanctions on the country and is opposed to Pyongyang's call for declaring a formal end to the Korean War.

"The perception that sanctions can bring us on our knees is a pipe dream of the people who are ignorant about us. But the problem is that the continued sanctions are deepening our mistrust," Ri said.

"The reason behind the recent deadlock is because the U.S. relies on coercive methods which are lethal to trust-building," he noted.

Pompeo told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that it is necessary to strictly enforce U.N. sanctions on North Korea until "we realize the fully, final, verified denuclearization."

The top U.S. diplomat touted Trump's international pressure campaign as having resulted in the first-ever summit between the United States and North Korea, in which Kim committed to "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The 15-member Security Council tightened sanctions on North Korea last year with a view to choking off funding for the country's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

As for a declaration to formally end the Korean War, the United States is apparently wary of agreeing without major moves by North Korea toward dismantling its nuclear arms program.

The 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, meaning U.S.-led United Nations forces, including South Korea, are technically still at war with North Korea.

The North Korean foreign minister contrasted Pyongyang's relations with Washington with the rapid progress made in inter-Korean relations through three summits this year, most recently last week.

"The recent dramatic improvement of the North-South relations and the atmosphere of cooperation clearly show how decisive the role of trust-building can be," he said.

"If the party to this issue of denuclearization were South Korea and not the U.S. the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula would not have come to such a deadlock," he added.

To bring about denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Ri pointed to the need for the United States and North Korea to put behind them their acrimonious relations.

"It is our position that the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula should also be realized along with building peace regime under the principle of simultaneous actions, step by step, starting with what we can do and giving priority to trust-building," he said.

"If the DPRK-U.S. joint statement becomes a victim of the domestic politics of the U.S., then the greatest victim of the subsequent unpredictable consequences will be the U.S. itself as a whole," Ri said, citing the document jointly issued after the Singapore summit.

In talks with South Korean President Moon Jae In in Pyongyang last week, North Korean leader Kim pledged to permanently dismantle his country's major nuclear complex if the United States takes reciprocal actions.

On Wednesday, Trump said he will announce the timing and location of his next meeting with Kim, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, North Korea's ruling party, in the "very near future."

Speaking at a news conference in New York, Trump said he and Kim have "a very good relationship."

"He likes me. I like him. We get along," the president said, noting he received two letters from Kim recently. "I think we're going to make a deal."