North Korea has warned that it will
inflict “the greatest pain and suffering” on the US if it continues to call for
fresh sanctions in response to the regime’s sixth nuclear test last week.
According to a draft resolution leaked
to the media, Washington wants the UN Security Council to support a halt to oil
exports to North Korea and a freeze on the assets of its leader, Kim Jong-un.
In the court of Kim Jong-un: a ruthless,
bellicose despot, but not mad. The US, which is seeking a meeting of the
security council later on Monday, also backs an end to textile imports and a
ban on North Koreans working overseas, where they earn much-needed foreign
currency for the regime.
Pyongyang claims it tested a hydrogen
bomb on 3 September that can be loaded onto an intercontinental missile [ICBM],
drawing widespread condemnation and increasing pressure on Donald Trump to
respond.
North Korea’s recent volley of missile
launches, combined with last Sunday’s nuclear test, suggest it is edging closer
to its goal of building a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the US
mainland – a game-changing development that Trump vowed in January “won’t
happen”.
In a statement carried by the official
KCNA news agency on Monday, North Korea’s foreign ministry warned the US that
if it “did rig up the illegal and unlawful ‘resolution’ on harsher sanctions, the
DPRK shall make absolutely sure that the US pays a due price”.
Referring to the country by its official
title, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, it added: “The forthcoming
measures to be taken by the DPRK will cause the US the greatest pain and
suffering it has ever gone through in its entire history.
“The world will witness how the DPRK
tames the US gangsters by taking a series of action tougher than they have ever
envisaged.”
Differences have opened up between
permanent security council members about how to respond to the nuclear test,
weeks after they unanimously backed tougher sanctions when Pyongyang launched
two ICBMs that, theoretically, could reach several US cities.
China, by far the biggest exporter of
crude oil to the North, condemned last week’s nuclear test but is wary of any
measure that could foment political instability in Pyongyang.
China’s greatest fear is a united
post-Kim Korean peninsula under Seoul’s control, with tens of thousands of
South Korean and US troops ranged along its border with the North.
Russia has also indicated it opposes an
oil embargo.
Read More: theguardian
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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