North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his military on standby for nuclear strikes at any time, state media reported Friday, but US officials said there was no evidence that it had prepared to deploy any such weapons.
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The Korean Central News Agency indicated that Kim said the military will be ready to conduct pre-emptive attacks since the current situation is already very precarious.
In North Korea’s first official response to the U.N.’s recent adoption of harsh sanctions over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, the North also warned Friday it will bolster its nuclear arsenal and make unspecified “strong and merciless physical” measures.
The US-drafted United Nations resolution adopted by the Security Council late Wednesday (March 2) laid out the toughest sanctions imposed on Pyongyang to date over its nuclear weapons programme that will, if implemented effectively, apply significant economic pressure to Mr Kim’s regime.
The sanctions require North Korean cargo ships and aircraft to be inspected before entering and after leaving the reclusive country.
“No kind of sanctions will ever work on us, because we’ve lived under USA sanctions for more than half a century”, said Pyongyang resident Song Hyo Il.
Kim is notorious for his anti-US rhetoric blaming Washington for his country’s ills and telling his own people that he is preparing to confront them in all-out war.
The 28-nation bloc said it was adding 16 North Korean individuals and 12 entities to the sanctions blacklist which counts some 60 individuals and groups who were hit with travel bans and asset freezes after previous tests.
A second-grader can not rule a country (except maybe in Ancient Egypt), yet North Korea’s continuous behavior and apparent disregard for common decency and sanctions imposed upon it, reflects leadership that is eerily reminiscent of such a second-grade mentality.
North Korea has often threatened nuclear war with the United States and has claimed to have built nuclear weapons small enough to be carried by missiles.
The site on the North’s west coast is the upgraded rocket station where it launched a long-range rocket on February 7 that put an object into space, but was condemned by the Security Council as violation of past resolutions that ban the use of ballistic missile technology by the North.
The Pentagon said it was “closely monitoring the situation” and urged the North Koreans to “refrain from provocative actions that aggravate tensions”.
Russian ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said the short-range projectiles fired by the North indicate that they are not yet drawing any proper conclusions.
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Meanwhile, the USA and South Korea have begun talks on the possible deployment of a US missile defense shield in the south.
