N Korea Rejects UN Sanctions, Says USA Is Fired Up For Confrontation
Adefiant North Korea has “categorically rejected” a UN Security Council resolution to step up sanctions against the country, saying the United States was “fired up” for confrontation and would soon face the “greatest pain” it had ever experienced.
Major US allies in Asia on Tuesday welcomed the unanimous vote to ban North Korea’s profitable textile exports and cap fuel supplies to the reclusive North after its sixth nuclear test.
Japan and South Korea said after the passage of the US-drafted Security Council resolution they were prepared to apply more pressure if North Korea refused to end its aggressive development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
Monday’s decision was the ninth sanctions resolution unanimously adopted by the 15-member Security Council since 2006 over North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programmes.
A tougher initial US draft was weakened to win the support of China, Pyongyang’s main ally and trading partner, and Russia, both of which hold veto power in the council.
North Korea’s ambassador, Han Tae-song, told the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Tuesday the United States was “fired up for political, economic, and military confrontation”. “My delegation condemns in the strongest terms and categorically rejects the latest illegal and unlawful UN Security Council resolution,” he said.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was “ready to use a form of ultimate means”, Mr Han said without elaborating. “The forthcoming measures by DPRK will make the US suffer the greatest pain it ever experienced in its history.”
US disarmament ambassador Robert Wood took the floor to say the Security Council resolution “frankly sent a very clear and unambiguous message to the regime that the international community is tired, is no longer willing to put up with provocative behaviour from this regime”.
UN member states are now required to halt imports of textiles from North Korea, its secondlargest export after coal and other minerals in 2016 that totalled $938 million and accounted for a quarter of its income from trade, according to South Korean data. Nearly 80 per cent went to China. South Korea’s presidential Blue House said the only way for Pyongyang to end diplomatic isolation and become free of economic pressure was to end its nuclear program and resume dialogue.
However, China’s official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary that the Trump administration was making a mistake by rejecting diplomatic engagement with the North.
“The US needs to switch from isolation to communication in order to end an ‘endless loop’ on the Korean peninsula, where nuclear and missile tests trigger tougher sanctions and tougher sanctions invite further tests,” Xinhua said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe quickly welcomed the resolution and said after the vote it was important to change North Korea’s policy by stepping up pressure. The resolution imposes a ban on condensates and natural gas liquids, a cap of two million barrels a year on refined petroleum products, and a cap on crude oil exports to North Korea at current levels. China supplies most of North Korea’s crude.