Kim Jong Un says US delaying process of full denuclearization

A senior Russian official who met Kim Jong Un this weekend cited the North Korean leader as saying he did not plan any unilateral steps to denuclearize and was instead awaiting a U.S. response to steps he already took, Russia's RIA news agency reported.

Valentina Matvienko, a Kremlin loyalist and speaker of the upper house of Russia's parliament, met the North Korean leader in Pyongyang on Saturday.

Matvienko said Kim Jong Un had been polite and diplomatic in his remarks about U.S. President Donald Trump, RIA reported. She also quoted him as saying he hoped for Russian backing in weakening U.S. sanctions on North Korea.