N. Korea: U.S. has crossed red line with sanctions
Associated Press
PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea’s top diplomat for U.S. affairs said Thursday that Washington “crossed the red line” and effectively declared war by putting leader Kim Jong Un on its list of sanctioned individuals, and said a vicious showdown could erupt if the U.S. and South Korea hold annual war games as planned next month.
Han Song Ryol, directorgeneral of the U.S. affairs department at the North’s Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with The Associated Press that recent U.S. actions have put the situation on the Korean Peninsula on a war footing.
The United States and South Korea regularly conduct joint military exercises south of the Demilitarized Zone, and Pyongyang typically responds to them with tough talk and threats of retaliation.
Mr. Han said North Korea believes the nature of the maneuvers has become openly aggressive because they reportedly now include training designed to prepare troops for the invasion of the North’s capital and “decapitation strikes” aimed at killing its top leadership.
Mr. Han says designating Mr. Kim himself for sanctions was the final straw.
“The Obama administration went so far to have the impudence to challenge the supreme dignity of the DPRK in order to get rid of its unfavorable position during the political and military showdown with the DPRK,” Mr. Han said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Although North Korea had already been heavily sanctioned internationally for its nuclear weapons and longrange missile development programs, Washington’s announcement July 6 was the first time Mr. Kim has been personally sanctioned.
Mr. Kim and 10 others were put on the list of sanctioned individuals in connection with alleged human rights abuses.
Pyongyang denies abuse claims and says the U.N. report was based on fabrications gleaned from disgruntled defectors.
Mr. Han warned that Pyongyang is viewing next month’s planned U.S.-South Korea exercises in this new context and will respond if they are carried out as planned.
“Nobody can predict what kind of influence this kind of vicious confrontation between the DPRK and the United States will have upon the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” he said. “By doing these kinds of vicious and hostile acts toward the DPRK, the U.S. has already declared war against the DPRK. So it is our self-defensive right and justifiable action to respond in a very hard way.”