NORTH KOREA has accused the US of using “gangster-like” tactics in its demands for denuclearisation after the latest round of talks between the two countries.

Pyongyang said the US attitude at the meeting was “extremely troubling,” despite US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying that the talks were very productive.

Mr Pompeo claimed to have discussed a timeline for disarmament, including the destruction of a missile testing facility, with his North Korean counterpart Kim Yong Cho.

“These are complicated issues but we made progress on almost all of the central issues, some places a great deal of progress, other places there’s still more work to be done,” he said.

But a North Korean statement said it had “anticipated the US side would come with a constructive idea, thinking we would take something in return” and warned that its “resolve for denuclearisation … may falter.”

“The US is fatally mistaken if it went to the extent of regarding that [North Korea] would be compelled to accept, out of its patience, demands reflecting its gangster-like mindset,” the statement concluded.

The talks were the first since last month’s historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Singapore.