North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho made the remark to reporters in Laos on the sidelines of a regional security forum, arguing that what he calls the USA “hostile policy” toward the North is increasingly becoming severe.
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North Korea’s foreign minister warned the United States on Tuesday that it would pay a “terrifying price” for spearheading global sanctions against Pyongyang, hours after Secretary of State John Kerry criticized the country’s nuclear program.
“We are ready to show that even a [powerful] country will surely not be safe if it tries to torment and harm a small country”, Ri says, according to the text of his speech released to the media. Negotiations were suspended in 2009 on Pyongyang’s initiative.
But North Korea alone, Kerry said, is “the only country in the world defying the worldwide movement towards responsibility, continues to develop its own weapon, continues to develop its missiles, continues the provocative actions”.
“Having the same objective that we need to make sure to change North Korea’s strategic calculus, South Korea and the USA have constantly been checking on specific strategies about how to realize the objective, and the high-level strategic talks are also part of such efforts”, Cho told Yonhap News Agency upon arrival at the airport.
Kerry added, “North Korea in January did another nuclear test. In February, March, April, May; continually they have done missile tests”.
Ri, a former nuclear negotiator, was making his overseas debut as North Korea’s top diplomat at the gathering hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Ri also questioned the legitimacy of the United Nations sanctions, saying there is no article in the United Nations charter that says nuclear or missile tests are threats to worldwide peace.
Kerry said if Iran can give up nuclear weapons so can North Korea.
This week, leaders from the US, Russia, China, Japan, North Korea, and South Korea have gathered in the Laotian capital of Vientiane to negotiate an end to the North’s nuclear program.
The North, meanwhile, said it would take “physical action” – a threat followed up with another missile test which it described as a simulated strike on the South.
Beijing is Pyongyang’s main ally but its patience has worn thin.
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Earlier this month, the USA blacklisted Kim and other top North Korean officials for their roles in the country’s human rights abuses.
