It said it is preparing its harshest response yet.
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“The government expects that it will lead the world to better understand the systemic and extensive human rights violations going on in the North, while contributing much to advancing discussion in the global community and beefing up related countermeasures”, it said. Just days after the reclusive country test-launched two medium-range ballistic missiles last month, the top North Korean official for USA relations told The Associated Press that Washington can expect more nuclear tests and missile launches as long as it tries to force his government’s collapse through a policy of pressure and punishment.
“The latest sanctions are expected to go beyond a symbolic move toward actually deterring (human rights violations)”, he said.
In January, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, followed up in February with the launch of a ballistic missile that successfully placed a satellite in orbit.
The US Treasury Department took to Twitter to spread the word on the decision. The Kermit Kingdom also threatens massive retaliation against the US. South Korea’s foreign ministry has highly evaluated the announcement.
North Korea has said U.S. sanctions imposed on leader Kim Jong Un by the United States are a “declaration of war”.
The penalties also hit North Korean agencies responsible for propaganda. “North Korea is already viewed as one of, if not ‘the, ‘ most repressive regimes in the world, so its moral standing will not change”, said Alan Romberg, a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Center.
According to a statement by the US Treasury Department, 10 other individuals and five government ministries and departments were also sanctioned.
Analysts have warned that the sanctions will be regarded by North Koreans as a “personal insult” against Kim Jong-Un, but the move has been welcomed by human rights activists.
“It is important”, he told reporters during a visit to Ukraine, “that all North Korean officials know and understand going forward that at all levels there are consequences for actions and they hopefully might consider the implications of those actions”, he said. The United Nations says his crimes include the internment of 80,000 to 120,000 people-including children and other family members of accused people-in political prison camps.
“But that doesn’t mean that this still isn’t the right thing to do and it doesn’t mean that it’s still not the right thing for us to continue to pursue”.
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The Chinese Foreign Ministry spoke out against the United States sanctions over human rights, saying that the alleged violations bear no threat to worldwide peace and security. U.S. officials said that the sanctions were more of a “symbolic” move that didn’t pack any real punch – hoping Pyongyang officials might “think twice” before orchestrating abuses in the future.
