SEOUL, South Korea—North Korea vowed on Monday to bolster its nuclear arsenal and launch “thousands-fold” revenge against the US to respond to tough UN sanctions imposed after its intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches.
The North’s warning came two days after the UN Security Council unanimously approved new sanctions to punish the North, including a ban on coal and other exports worth over $1 billion. US Ambassador Nikki Haley called the US-drafted resolution “the single largest economic sanctions package ever leveled against” North Korea.
In a statement carried by state media, the North Korean government said the sanctions were a “violent infringement of its sovereignty” that was caused by a “heinous US plot to isolate and stifle” North Korea.
It said the UN sanctions will never force the country to negotiate over its nuclear program or to give up its push to strengthen its nuclear capability. The North said it will take “action of justice” but didn’t elaborate.
North Korea test-launched two ICBMs last month as part of its efforts to possess a long-range missile capable of striking anywhere in the mainland US. Both missiles were fired at highly lofted angles and analysts say the weapons are capable of reaching parts of the US if fired at a normal, flattened trajectory. The centerpiece of the UN sanctions is a ban on North Korea exports of coal, iron, lead and seafood products—and a ban on all countries importing these products, estimated to be worth over $1 billion in hard currency.
According to a Security Council diplomat, coal has been North Korea’s largest export, earning $1.2 billion last year, which was then restricted by the Security Council in November to a maximum $400 million. This year, Pyongyang was estimated to earn $251 million from iron and iron-ore exports; $113 million from lead and lead-ore exports; and $295 million from fish and seafood exports, the diplomat said.
The council diplomat was not authorized to speak publicly and insisted on anonymity.
Meanwhile, diplomats in Asia renewed efforts to get North Korea to resume dialogue over its nuclear weapons program after the United Nations Security Council slapped Kim Jong Un’s regime with the most severe sanctions yet.
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha briefly spoke with North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho last Sunday at a regional security meeting in the Philippines, the Yonhap News Agency reported.
Kang urged Ri to respond as soon as possible to South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s offer to resume talks between the two countries, Yonhap said, citing an unidentified foreign ministry official from Seoul.
Ri, who previously said he wouldn’t speak with Kang, said the offer “lacks sincerity,” according to the unnamed official. South Korea’s foreign ministry didn’t immediately respond on Monday to a request for comment.
The brief conversation came as the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions on North Korea that would ban exports of coal, iron, lead and seafood. The sanctions followed Pyongyang’s test of two ICBM last month that could target the US.
“It’s a positive but very small step, and can at least help the two Koreas exchange some views on the current state of affairs,” Kim Jin-ho, a professor of political science at Dankook University in South Korea, said of the meeting between foreign ministers. “North Korea would use the talk as a bargaining chip with the US, as their goal is to have dialogue with Washington, not Seoul.”
In a phone call on Monday, Moon told his US counterpart Donald J. Trump that North Korean issues must be resolved peacefully and diplomatically, and countries needed to show Pyongyang that the door to dialogue was open if North Korea gave up its nuclear weapons and missile programs, according to a Moon spokesman.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is attending the same security forum in Manila, said on Monday that the best signal North Korea could give that it’s ready for talks with the US was to halt missile launches, the Associated Press reported.
“We’re not going to give someone a specific number of days or weeks,” Tillerson said. “This is really about the spirit of these talks.”
Joint discussions between six nations—China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Russia and the US—collapsed in 2009.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Manila that Beijing wanted North and South Korea to repair their relationship and praised what he described as Moon’s “positive” overtures. He noted that that North Korea has ruled out Moon’s suggestions for renewed military and humanitarian exchanges.
Trump said on Twitter after his phone conversation with Moon that his South Korean counterpart was pleased with the UN move.
“Just completed call with President Moon of South Korea,” Trump said. “Very happy and impressed with 15-0 United Nations vote on North Korea sanctions.”
Moon, who took office in May, has advocated engaging Pyongyang with dialogue and offered to hold rare military talks with the North to ease tensions after Kim’s first successful ICBM test on July 4.
AP and Bloomberg News
Image credits: Bloomberg