KIM VOWS N KOREA’S NUKES ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE
SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vows his nation would “demonstrate its mettle to the US” and never negotiate its weapons programmes after watching the test- launch of its first intercontinental ballistic missile.
The hard line suggests that more tests are being prepared as North Korea tries to perfect a nuclear missile capable of striking anywhere in the United States.tuesday’s ICBM launch, confirmed later by US and South Korean officials, is a milestone in Pyongyang’s efforts to develop longrange nuclear-armed missiles. North Korea said its newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) can carry a large nuclear warhead, triggering a call by Washington for global action to hold it accountable for pursuing nuclear weapons. A spokeswoman for the US Defense Department said it had concluded that North Korea testlaunched an ICBM on Tuesday, which some experts now believe had the range to reach the US state of Alaska as well as parts of the mainland United States.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the test, on the eve of the US Independence Day holiday, represented “a new escalation of the threat” to the United States and its allies, and vowed to take stronger measures.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the test completed his country’s strategic weapons capability that includes atomic and hydrogen bombs and ICBMS, the state KCNA news agency said. Pyongyang would not negotiate with the United States to give up those weapons until Washington abandons its hostile policy against the North, KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
The intercontinental ballistic missile test was a “gift” to “American b*******” on their independence day, Pyongyang’s official news agency today cited leader Kim Jong-un as saying.
After personally overseeing the launch, the Korean Central News
Agency reported, “he said American b******* would be not very happy with this gift sent on the July 4 anniversary”.
Breaking into peals of laughter, it said, he “added that we should send them gifts once in a while to help break their boredom”. Kim ordered them to “frequently send big and small ‘gift packages’ to the Yankees,” it added.
The launch came days before leaders from the Group of 20 nations are due to discuss steps to rein in North Korea’s weapons programme, which it has pursued in defiance of United Nations Security Council sanctions.
The test successfully verified the technical requirements of the newly developed ICBM in stage separation, the atmospheric re-entry of the warhead and the late-stage control of the warhead, KCNA said.
Tillerson warned that any country that hosts North Korean workers, provides economic or military aid to Pyongyang, or fails to implement UN sanctions “is aiding and abetting a dangerous regime”. “All nations should publicly demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to their pursuit of nuclear weapons,” Tillerson said in a statement.
UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres has strongly condemned North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile that Pyongyang claimed was its first successful ICBM test. “This action is yet another brazen violation of Security Council resolutions and constitutes a dangerous escalation of the situation,” Guterres said in a statement. He added that North Korea’s “leadership must cease further provocative actions and comply fully with its international obligations.”
US Ambassador Nikki Haley spoke by phone with China’s Ambassador Liu Jieyi, who holds the council presidency this month, to convey the US request for an urgent meeting. Guterres stressed ‘the importance of maintaining the unity of the international community’.
The intercontinental ballistic missile test was a ‘gift’ to ‘American b*******’ on their Independence Day