Pyongyang spokesman says threat of further sanctions is ‘laughable’ and country will work to increase its nuclear force

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

North Korea has demanded the US recognise it as a “legitimate nuclear weapons state” following its fifth and largest atomic test, adding that threats of further sanctions against the country were “laughable”.



The dictatorship set off its most powerful nuclear explosion to date on Friday, saying it had mastered the ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic missile and ratcheting up a challenge to rivals and the UN.

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“Obama is trying hard to deny the DPRK’s [North Korea’s] strategic position as a legitimate nuclear weapons state but it is as foolish an act as trying to eclipse the sun with a palm,” said a foreign ministry spokesman quoted by the official KCNA news agency.



The spokesman defended the test, which has been condemned worldwide, as a necessary response to what he termed a US nuclear threat. The country would work to increase its nuclear force “in quality and in quantity”, his statement said.

“The group of Obama’s running around and talking about meaningless sanctions until today is highly laughable, when their ‘strategic patience’ policy is completely worn out and they are close to packing up to move out,” the statement reportedly added.

“As we’ve made clear, measures to strengthen the national nuclear power in quality and quantity will continue to protect our dignity and right to live from augmented threats of nuclear war from the United States.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The US special representative for North Korea policy, Sung Kim, addresses the media in Tokyo on Sunday. Photograph: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images

The UN security council denounced North Korea’s decision to carry out the test and said it would begin work immediately on a resolution. The US, Britain and France pushed for the 15-member body to impose new sanctions.

Obama said after speaking by phone with the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, and the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, on Friday that they had agreed to work with the security council and other powers to vigorously enforce existing measures and to take “additional significant steps, including new sanctions”.

“We will be working very closely in the security council and beyond to come up with the strongest possible measure against North Korea’s latest actions,” said the US special representative for North Korea policy, Sung Kim, on Sunday.

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“In addition to action in the security council, both the US and Japan, together with the Republic of Korea, will be looking at unilateral measures, as well as bilateral measures, as well as possible trilateral cooperation,” he said, referring to South Korea by its official name.

South Korea’s top nuclear envoy also spoke to his Chinese counterpart late on Saturday by telephone and emphasised the need for fresh countermeasures including a new UN security council resolution, the South Korean foreign ministry said in a statement.

The latest test showed North Korea’s nuclear capability was expanding fast and that the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, was unwilling to alter course, South Korea said on Saturday.

Another KCNA report on Sunday said North Koreans were “delighted” by the nuclear test. “The enemies can no longer deny the strategic position of our country as a nuclear weapons state,” Jong Won-sop, a teacher at the University of National Economy, was quoted as saying.