North Korea says U.S. will ‘pay dearly’ for new UN sanctions
BEIJING – North Korean state media said Monday the U.S. will “pay dearly” for a round of strict sanctions approved by the United Nations during the weekend, suggesting that Pyongyang remains committed to its nuclear ambitions and willing to bear the economic costs.
“There is no bigger mistake than the United States believing that its land is safe across the ocean,” the isolated country’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said in a statement.
The United Nations Security Council on Saturday voted on a new round of sanctions targeting North Korea’s primary exports, including iron, coal and seafood – together worth about $1 billion – in retaliation for its repeated missile tests. Pyongyang has tested 14 missiles so far this year, including two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July, showcasing its technical ability to launch a strike on parts of the U.S., including Alaska, Los Angeles and Chicago.
The sanctions could slash North Korea’s annual export revenue, totaling an estimated $3 billion, by more than a third, according to a statement from the office of Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. President Donald Trump, on Twitter, called the resolution the “single largest economic sanctions package ever on North Korea.”
Yet North Korea’s statement Monday illustrates the degree to which Kim Jong Un, the country’s ruler, prizes the country’s nuclear and missile programs as a crucial deterrent against the United States and a point of national pride.
“This U.N. ‘sanctions resolution,’ to all intents and purposes, is an outcome of diabolical attempts of the U.S. to isolate and stifle the DPRK,” the agency said, using the initials of the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The U.S. “is trying to drive the situation of the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war,” it said.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, speaking to reporters at a regional conference in Manila on Monday, said the U.S. would be willing to discuss denuclearization with North Korea “when conditions are right.”
“The best signal that North Korea could give us that they’re prepared to talk would be to stop these missile launches,” he said. South Korean President Moon Jae-in – another supporter of the latest sanctions – has also signaled a willingness to talk.
In a phone call with Trump on Sunday evening, Moon “affirmed that North Korea poses a grave and growing direct threat to the United States, South Korea, and Japan, as well as to most countries around the world,” according to the White House.
Trump has leaned heavily on China to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions; and while China voted for the resolution Saturday, it has warned that sanctions alone will not dampen Pyongyang’s resolve.
“Sanctions are necessary but in no way the ultimate purpose. Imposing fresh sanctions is aimed at bringing the conundrum back to the negotiation table,” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit, the conference in Manila.
“We would like to urge other parties like the United States and South Korea to stop increasing tensions,” he said.
The U.N.’s latest sanctions crack down on other sources of hard currency for Pyongyang; they target North Korean banks, and ban joint ventures with North Korean companies.
Analysts say North Korea is preparing to conduct its sixth-ever nuclear test, and could soon have the capability to fit a miniaturized nuclear weapon onto a long-range missile.