‘WE’LL SINK JAPAN, TURN U.S. TO ASHES’

They supported UNSC resolution, sanctions against us, says N. Korea

ANORTH Korean state agency threatened yesterday to use nuclear weapons to “sink” Japan and reduce the United States to “ashes and darkness” for supporting a United Nations Security Council resolution and sanctions over its latest nuclear test.

Pyongyang’s Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, which handles the North’s external ties and propaganda, also proposed the breakup of the Security Council, which it called “a tool of evil” made up of “money-bribed” countries that move at the order of the US.

“The four islands of the archipelago should be sunk into the sea by the nuclear bomb of Juche. Japan is no longer needed to exist near us,” the committee said in a statement carried by the North’s official KCNA agency.

Juche is the North’s ruling ideology that mixes Marxism and an extreme form of go-it-alone nationalism preached by state founder Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of leader Kim Jong-un.

Regional tension has risen since the reclusive North conducted its sixth, and by far its most powerful, nuclear test on Sept 3.

The 15-member Security Council voted unanimously on a USdrafted resolution and a new round of sanctions on Monday in response, banning North Korea’s textile exports that are the second largest only to coal and mineral, and capping fuel supplies.

The North reacted to the latest action by the Security Council, which had the backing of vetoholding China and Russia, by reiterating threats to destroy the US, Japan and South Korea.

“Let’s reduce the US mainland into ashes and darkness. Let’s vent our spite with mobilisation of all retaliation means which have been prepared till now,” the statement said.

Despite the tension, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said it planned to provide US$8 million (RM33.6 million) through the UN World Food Programme and UN Children’s Fund to help infants and pregnant women in the North.

The move marked Seoul’s first humanitarian assistance for the North after its fourth nuclear test in January last year, and was based on a longstanding policy of separating humanitarian aid from politics, the ministry said.

The North’s latest threats singled out Japan for “dancing to the tune” of the US, saying it should never be pardoned for not offering a sincere apology for its “never-to-be-condoned crimes against our people”, a reference to Japan’s wartime aggression.

It also referred to South Korea as “traitors and dogs” of the US.

Japan criticised the North’s statement harshly.

“This announcement is extremely provocative and egregious. It is something that markedly heightens regional tension and is absolutely unacceptable,” Japanese Cabinet chief secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference yesterday.

North Korea had categorically rejected the Security Council resolution imposing sanctions over its latest test, vowing to press ahead with its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of international pressure.

A tougher initial US draft of Monday’s resolution was weakened to win the support of China and Russia. Significantly, it stopped short of imposing a full embargo on oil exports to North Korea, most of which come from China. Reuters