North Korea warns U.S. that sanctions could lead to "exchanges of fire"

North Korea issued a stern warning to the U.S. on Sunday about its latest round of sanctions on officials in Pyongyang, cautioning that continued escalation could "block the path to denuclearization on the Korean peninsula forever" and lead "relations back to the status of last year which was marked by exchanges of fire," BBC reports.

Background: Since President Trump’s June summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, denuclearization efforts have been slow, and the Trump administration has sanctioned North Koreans engaging in illegal activities like cyberattacks and money laundering. The latest round of sanctions came last week, when the Treasury Department sanctioned three of Kim's top aides over "serious human rights abuses and censorship."

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