North Korea vowed on Tuesday to bolster its nuclear
deterrent in response to diplomatic pressure from Washington over a recent
failed rocket launch.
The United States, backed by the United Nations Security
Council, has warned North Korea that it will face more sanctions if it
undertakes what would be its third nuclear test.
Even staunch ally China has put pressure on Pyongyang to
back down on any plans for a nuclear test, that experts fear could use highly
enriched uranium for the first time, potentially giving North Korea a second
path to a nuclear bomb to supplement its limited stocks of plutonium.
The reclusive state said the "nuclear test rumour" had
been started by Washington.
The country's foreign ministry spokesman said in a
statement via the official KCNA news agency that it would "bolster its nuclear
deterrent as long as the United States was continuing with its hostile policies"
and that it planned "countermeasures" following the pressure from Washington.
In April this year, North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-un
pushed ahead with a long range rocket launch that the United States said was
essentially a test for a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, although
Pyongyang said it was a peaceful satellite launch.
Kim, who has pushed the same "military first" policies as
his dead father and abrogated a February deal with Washington that would have
seen food aid exchanged for nuclear inspections and an end to rocket launches,
among other things.
Posted by Alisa Fishel
No comments:
Post a Comment