North Korea has vowed to retaliate and make “the United States pay a price” for
drafting fresh UN sanctions over its banned nuclear weapons programme.
The official KCNA news agency said the
sanctions, which were unanimously passed
by the UN on Saturday, were a “violent
violation of our sovereignty”.
The UN Security Council decision followed
repeated missile tests by North Korea which
have escalated tensions on the peninsula. In
its first major response, North Korea insisted
that it would continue to develop its
controversial nuclear weapons programme.
The state-run KCNA news agency said
Pyongyang would “not put our self-
defensive nuclear deterrent on the
negotiating table” while it faces threats from
the US.
It threatened to make the US “pay the price
for its crime thousands of times,” referring
to America’s role in drafting the UN
sanctions resolution.
Speaking to reporters at a regional forum in
the Philippine capital, Manila, North Korean
spokesman Bang Kwang Hyuk said: “The
worsening situation on the Korean
peninsula, as well as the nuclear issues,
were caused by the United States. We affirm
that we’ll never place our nuclear and
ballistic missiles programme on the
negotiating table, and won’t budge an inch
on strengthening nuclear armament.”
