North Korea defiant over U.N. sanctions
as Trump says tougher steps needed
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[September 13, 2017]
By Jack Kim and Roberta Rampton
SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea
showed trademark defiance on Wednesday over new U.N. sanctions imposed
after its sixth and largest nuclear test, vowing to redouble efforts to
fight off what it said was the threat of a U.S. invasion.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday's sanctions, unanimously agreed
on Monday by the 15-member U.N. Security Council, were just a small step
towards what is ultimately needed to rein in Pyongyang over its nuclear
and missile programs.
The North's Foreign Ministry said the resolutions were an infringement
on its legitimate right to self-defense and aimed at "completely
suffocating its state and people through full-scale economic blockade".
"The DPRK will redouble the efforts to increase its strength to
safeguard the country's sovereignty and right to existence and to
preserve peace and security of the region by establishing the practical
equilibrium with the U.S.," it said in a statement carried by the
official KCNA news agency.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's
official name.
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The statement echoed comments on Tuesday by the North's ambassador to
the United Nations in Geneva, Han Tae Song, who said Pyongyang was
"ready to use a form of ultimate means".
"The forthcoming measures ... will make the U.S. suffer the greatest
pain it ever experienced in its history," Han said.
The North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper also accused South Korea of being
Washington's "puppet", criticizing Seoul's agreement with the United
States to amend an existing bilateral guideline that will now allow the
South to use unlimited warhead payloads on its missiles.
The U.N. Security Council agreed to boost sanctions on North Korea,
banning its textile exports and capping fuel supplies, and making it
illegal for foreign firms to form commercial joint ventures with North
Korean entities.
The U.N. resolution was triggered by North Korea's test of what it said
was a hydrogen bomb.
Damage to mountainous terrain at the North's nuclear test site in
Punggye-ri seen in satellite imagery taken after the latest test was
more extensive than anything seen after the five previous tests, the
Washington-based 38 North project said.
There was also activity at another location in the Mount Mantap site
involving large vehicles and mining equipment that suggests "onsite work
could now be changing focus to further prepare those other portals for
future underground nuclear testing", said 38 North, which monitors North
Korea.
The North accuses the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South
Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean war, of continual plans for
invasion.
North Korea has also tested a missile capable of reaching the United
States, but experts say it is likely to be at least a year before it can
field an operational nuclear missile that could threaten the U.S.
mainland.
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ANOTHER SMALL STEP
Trump has vowed not to allow that to happen.
A tougher initial U.S. draft resolution was weakened to win the support
of China and Russia, both of which hold U.N. veto power. Significantly,
it stopped short of imposing a full embargo on oil exports to North
Korea, most of which come from China.
"We think it's just another very small step, not a big deal," Trump told
reporters at the start of a meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib
Razak.
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![](../images/091317pics/news_m25.jpg)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets supporters in this undated
photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in
Pyongyang September 12, 2017. REUTERS/KCNA
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"I don't know if it has any impact, but certainly it was nice to get
a 15-to-nothing vote, but those sanctions are nothing compared to
what ultimately will have to happen."
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned China, North Korea's
main ally and trading partner, that Washington would "put additional
sanctions on them and prevent them from accessing the U.S. and
international dollar system" if it did not follow through on the new
measures.
Another senior administration official told Reuters any such
"secondary sanctions" on Chinese banks and other companies were on
hold for now to give China time to show it was prepared to fully
enforce the latest and previous rounds of sanctions.
Washington so far has mostly held off on new sanctions against
Chinese banks and other companies doing business with North Korea,
given fears of retaliation by Beijing and possibly far-reaching
effects on the world economy.
Russia and China both say they respect U.N. sanctions and have
called on the United States to return to negotiations with North
Korea. They have also said they could kick-start talks with North
Korea if the United States halts joint military drills with South
Korea, which Washington has rejected.
An article carried on the front page of the People's Daily, the
official paper of China's ruling Communist Party, said the Korean
peninsula had reached the "moment of choice" where the United States
and North Korea must break from the cycle of nuclear tests and
sanctions.
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"All parties involved in the peninsula have their own strategic
considerations, but not being able to see beyond this vicious cycle
is not in anyone's interest," the article said.
Asked about the North Korean and U.S. rhetoric, China's foreign
ministry reiterated a call for restraint and a return to dialogue.
"We hope all relevant parties can be rational and maintain restraint
and not take actions that could further increase tensions on the
peninsula," ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular
briefing.
In another show of force, South Korea's Air Force conducted its
first live-fire exercise of Taurus long-range, air-to-surface
missiles on Tuesday, the defense ministry said, as practice for
precision bombing North Korean facilities.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the new
sanctions could eventually starve North Korea of an additional $500
million or more in annual revenue.
The United States has said that a previous round of sanctions agreed
in August was aimed at cutting North Korea's $3 billion in exports
by a third.
(Additional reporting by Christine Kim and Yuna Park in SEOUL,
Michael Martina and Christian Shepherd in BEIJING, and Roberta
Rampton and David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON; Editing by Lincoln
Feast, Paul Tait and Nick Macfie)
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