‘Vicious’ sanctions will only speed up nuclear program – N. Korea

PYONGYANG (AFP) - North Korea bitterly denounced new sanctions on its economy as “vicious, unethical and inhumane” and warned the measures would only accelerate progress on its nuclear weapons program, state media reported Monday.

The angry statement from Pyongyang’s foreign ministry came as the crisis surrounding the reclusive state was set to dominate the annual UN gathering of world leaders.

The Chinese and Russian foreign ministers called for a peaceful end to the ‘’vicious cycle’’ on the Korean peninsula as they met in New York for the UN General Assembly, Beijing said Tuesday.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov urged all parties to seek a ‘’peaceful resolution’’ to the current stand-off with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons program, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

‘’The Korean Peninsula nuclear problem must be solved through peaceful means,’’ it quoted Wang as saying, adding that ‘’the current deepening vicious cycle must be broken’’.

‘’Restoring peace talks is also a necessary step to carrying out the UN Security Council’s resolution,’’ he said.

Lavrov said Russia’s position on the issue is ‘’completely identical’’ to China’s, the statement said.

Russia has joined China’s call for a ‘’dual-track’’ approach in which North Korea suspends its weapons program in return for the United States halting military drills in the region.

The international community is scrambling to contain an increasingly belligerent Pyongyang, which has conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test and fired long-range missiles over Japan that it says could reach the US mainland.

Japan will deploy an additional missile defense system on its northern island of Hokkaido, a defense ministry spokesman told AFP, days after North Korea launched a missile over the island.

‘’We are deploying a PAC-3 system at about noon’’ to a base of the nation’s Ground Self-Defense Force in the southern tip of Hokkaido, said Kensaku Mizuseki. According to local officials, Japan has already deployed the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile defense system to another part of Hokkaido.

North Korea has threatened to ‘’sink’’ Japan into the sea and said Saturday that it sought military ‘’equilibrium’’ with arch-enemy the United States by developing a full nuclear arsenal.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has said he would ‘’never tolerate’’ the North’s ‘’dangerous provocative action’’ and has urged the international community to ramp up pressure on Pyongyang.

Pyongyang says it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself from US forces. It says it is determined to build a weapons system capable of delivering a nuclear warhead capable of hitting the American mainland.

The state news agency KCNA, quoting the foreign ministry statement, said the economic restrictions – which US officials estimate could deny the impoverished state more than $2 billion in revenue – were an “act of hostility to physically exterminate the people of” North Korea.

“The increased moves of the US and its vassal forces to impose sanctions and pressure on the DPRK will only increase our pace towards the ultimate completion of the state nuclear force,” it said, referring to the country by the initials of its official name.

The effectiveness of the sanctions depends largely on whether China, North Korea’s ally and main economic partner, will fully implement them.