N Korea promises ‘more gifts’
Military steps being taken by Pyongyang ‘an exercise of restraint’, says N Korea’s envoy to UN
A top North Korean diplomat warned on Tuesday that his country is ready to send “more gift packages” to the US as world powers struggled for a response to Pyongyang’s latest nuclear weapons test.
Han Tae Song, ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, confirmed that North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), had successfully conducted its sixth and largest nuclear bomb test on Sunday. “The recent self-defence measures by my country, DPRK, are a gift package addressed to none other than the US,” Han told a disarmament conference.
“The US will receive more ‘gift packages’ from my country as long as its relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the DPRK,” he added without elaborating.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Monday accused North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of “begging for war” with a series of nuclear bomb and missile tests. She urged the 15-member Security Council to impose the “strongest possible” sanctions to deter him and shut down his trading partners.
But Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said on Tuesday that a US bid for the Security Council to vote on September 11 on new sanctions is “a little premature.” Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and has veto power.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to rush it so fast,” Nebenzia told reporters.
Sanctions have done little to stop North Korea boosting its nuclear and missile capacity as it faces off with US President Donald Trump who has vowed to stop Pyongyang from being able to hit the mainland United States with a nuclear weapon.
Diplomats have said the Security Council could consider banning North Korean textile exports, banishing its national airline and stopping supplies of oil to the government and military. Other measures could include preventing North Koreans from working abroad and adding top officials to a blacklist aiming at imposing asset freezes and travel bans.