The North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported Wednesday that Kim Jong Un, the state’s leader, had visited nuclear scientists and then announced the “tremendous” achievement.
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“The United States has not seen North Korea demonstrate an ability to miniaturize a warhead”.
The U.N. Security Council imposed harsh new sanctions on the isolated state last week for the nuclear test. South Korea will ban those on the list from engaging in financial transactions with South Korean entities and freeze assets that are held in the country, the government said.
“There are few customers these days”, a North Korean waitress said, growing silent when asked about the new United Nations resolution targeting North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
Kim echoed the threat, warning that North Korea would “never hesitate to make a pre-emptive nuclear strike” in the event of any effort by the USA and its allies to undermine its national sovereignty as a nuclear state.
North Korea has made the claim before and it is not known whether it is true, but the timing of the announcement is not auspicious.
Experts have been divided on just how far North Korea may have gone with miniaturisation, although several US and South Korean intelligence reports and military officials have briefed on its apparent rapid progress.
The kitschy restaurants, which feature North Korean women singing and playing instruments, are located in cities in China and south-east Asia and are a popular destination for South Korean tourists who otherwise have no contact with their estranged compatriots.
“I’d say that the young man needs to pay more attention to the North Korean people and taking care of them than in pursuing these sorts of reckless capabilities”, said Kirby.
An intelligence official told KBS on Monday it is confirmed that North Korea carried out the attacks earlier this year.
“Today’s announcement expresses the global community’s firm intention to change North Korea”, he said.
Likewise, Hwang Pyong-so, director of the North’s Korean People’s Army General Political Bureau and considered the second-most powerful person in the country, was missing as well, though he was included in the recent Security Council resolution.
Numerous alleged cyberattacks failed to infiltrate targeted computer systems of businesses and government agencies.
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, speaking by telephone to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, described the situation on the Korean peninsula as “very tense” and called for all parties be remain calm and exercise restraint, China’s foreign ministry said.
