As Kim Jong Un’s long-awaited year-end deadline for talks with the U.S. finally arrives, the Trump administration’s position on sanctions relief for North Korea — widely agreed to be one of Pyongyang’s most pressing demands in a months’ long diplomatic stalemate with Washington — appears to be unchanged: Not yet.

The latest evidence: The U.S. State Department reiterated to NK News on Tuesday that it still will not support a proposal from China and Russia that would remove some of the punishing UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions targeting North Korea.

According to reports, UN representatives from Beijing and Moscow have been