‘Pyongyang committed to nuclear development’

PYONGYANG: North Korea will remain committed to the country’s nuclear development in 2018, according to a report released on Saturday by state-media.“Do not expect any change in its policy,” CNN quoted the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report titled “No Force Can Prevail over Independence and Justice” as saying.“Its entity as an invincible power can neither be undermined nor be stamped out. North Korea, as a responsible nuclear weapons state, will lead the trend of history to the only road of independence and justice, weathering all tempests on this planet,” it added.

The report provided a timeline of the country’s 2017 nuclear weapon achievements, mostly focused on possible US engagement.North Korea will “continue bolstering the capabilities for self-defence and pre-emptive attack with the nuclear force as the pivot as long as the US and its vassal forces persist in nuclear threat”, it said.It boasted about Pyongyang’s new capability to strike “the heart of the US” and a new “status” as a “world-class nuclear power”. The report said North Korea will “deal with the US’s most ferocious declaration of war with fire surely and definitely”. Throughout 2017, North Korea has conducted a series of ballistic missile tests, despite constant criticism from the West and trade sanctions. The most provocative moment came on 29 November when it successfully tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile, topped with a “super-large heavy warhead”, which was capable of striking the US mainland.

The UN Security Council responded by adopting a new set of severe US-drafted sanctions designed to further strangle North Korea’s energy supplies and tighten restrictions on smuggling and the use of North Korean workers overseas. North Korea called those sanctions “an act of war” and said the US and other nations that supported the strict measures will pay a heavy price.