According to the Korean Central News Agency, North Korea will also revise its military posture to address threats on a “pre-emptive basis”.
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The launches came after the UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution late on Wednesday imposing new sanctions after seven weeks of arduous negotiations between the United States and China, Pyongyang’s sole major ally.
The new measures require all cargo going to and leaving from North Korea to be inspected, and places additional economic sanctions on banks, natural resource exports and the import of luxury goods including watches and recreational equipment.
US defense officials say it is possible North Korea could mount a nuclear warhead on a short-range missile, which could hit targets including Japan, but Kim does not have the capability to strike the United States.
Six short-range projectiles were fired by North Korea along its east coast recently, according to South Korean officials.
The extent of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is unknown.
“In co-ordination with the global community, we need to urge North Korea to exercise restraint and fully comply with UN Security Council resolutions”, which called on the reclusive country to halt nuclear and missile developments, Kishida said.
Kim made the provocative remarks while observing the North’s test-firing Thursday of a new multiple launch rocket system during his “field guidance”, the KCNA said.
North Korea is already under four sets of global sanctions since its first nuclear test in 2006.
North Korean state media earlier warned that the imposition of new sanctions would be a “grave provocation” that shows “extreme” US hostility against the country.
Such rhetoric is not unusual from North Korea, but despite its recent nuclear and ballistic tests, analysts still doubt it has the ability to make a nuclear bomb small enough to put on a feasible missile.
Zhiqun Zhu, director of the China Institute at Bucknell University, said that policy has clearly failed – North Korea hasn’t moved any closer to denuclearization – and underscores the fundamental problem in Northeast Asian security, which he said isn’t North Korea but “distrust between the United States and China”.
The North Korean individuals and agencies included on the USA sanctions list will have their assets in US banks frozen and be banned from entering US territories.
” It means that they’re not drawing the proper conclusions yet, ” said Churkin.
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Its deployment is strongly opposed by China and Russian Federation, with Beijing saying it would undermine its own nuclear deterrent and has the potential to “destroy” relations with Seoul.
