SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea responded Saturday to new United Nations sanctions on Friday by defiantly vowing to press forward with the production of nuclear weapons and take “resolute military actions” against international efforts to isolate it.
In a statement on the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, an unidentified spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying that his nation would continue its nuclear program to defend itself against what he called a hostile United States policy. He was quoted as saying that his nation would “weaponize” its existing plutonium stockpiles and begin a program to enrich uranium, which can also be used to make atomic warheads.
The statement, which was light on the vitriol that often colors such missives, was released hours after the United Nations Security Council voted to punish the North for its May 25 nuclear test and its missile tests. The Council tightened sanctions, including an arms embargo and a provision that encourages high-seas searches of North Korean ships.
“We’ll take firm military action if the United States and its allies try to isolate us,” the spokesman said, according to the KCNA, the news service.
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I’m surprised China hasn’t stepped on North Korea yet.