Regime warns US of ‘catastrophic consequences’
North Korea’s foreign ministry yesterday hit back at US attempts to place additional sanctions on the isolated country, and said the United States would be to blame for any “catastrophic consequences” that result.
In a statement sent to the Bangkok Post, the unnamed foreign ministry spokesman rejected international criticisms of the bomb test as “ridiculous rhetoric” and insisted Pyongyang will press on with its nuclear arms programme to “defend peace and security in the Korean Peninsula and the region”.
“The US is running amuck [sic] to defame the DPRK, taking issue with our measures to bolster the self-defensive nuclear force, but this is only a sophistry to hide true colors of the US as the main culprit for escalated tension and nuclear threat,” the spokesman said, referring to the acronym of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“The wild and belligerent remarks ... let loose by [US President Donald] Trump and the frenzied moves of the US to stifle the DPRK testify that the US is indeed the heinous aggressor who is begging for war in defiance of the collective voice of the international community calling for peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.”
The spokesman placed the blame for the escalation of US-North Korean tensions firmly on the Trump government. The US president has threatened “fire and fury” in response to Pyongyang’s provocations, as well as pledging “many billions of dollars’ worth of military weapons” to US ally South Korea.
“With the emergence of the Trump administration, the US has become all the more reckless in its attempts to completely obliterate the sovereignty and the rights to existence and development of the DPRK,” the North Korean spokesman added.
“We were left with no other choice than redoubling our efforts to strengthen the state nuclear force.
“Now we are armed with the ultimate nuclear deterrence by which we can resolutely repel any aggression forces in any part of the world and reliably defend peace and security in the Korean Peninsula and the region.
“The US is terribly mistaken if it thinks it can frighten or persuade the DPRK ... We will respond to the heinous sanctions and pressure of the US with our own mode of counteroffensive and the US shall be held totally responsible for all catastrophic consequences to follow.”