North Korea to UN: Nuclear program non-negotiable
North Korea has informed the United Nations that its nuclear program is not negotiable as long as the United States continues its “hostile policy and nuclear threat” toward Pyongyang.
The North’s Deputy UN Ambassador Kim In-ryong conveyed the message during a phone conversation with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the North Korean mission to the UN said in a statement on Thursday.
"As long as the US hostile policy and nuclear threat continue, the DPRK... will never place its self-defensive nuclear deterrence on the negotiation table or flinch an inch from the road chosen by itself, the road of bolstering up the state nuclear force," Kim told Guterres.
Alarmed by Washington and Pyongyang’s aggravating war of words over the latter’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs, Guterres (pictured below) said Wednesday that it was time to "dial down rhetoric and dial up diplomacy."
Last week, US President Donald Trump claimed that his country was ready to rain "fire and fury" on North Korea, a message experts said was pointing to a possible preemptive nuclear attack by the US in future.
A day later, the American leader doubled down on his threat, saying a military option against North Korea was "locked and loaded."
North to make US ‘pay dearly’
In his conversation with the UN chief, Kim made it clear that any military action by the US will be met with a harsh response by North Koreans.
"The DPRK will make the US pay dearly for all the heinous crime it commits against the state and people of this country," Kim said, according to the North Korea UN mission.
The North Korean official also said his country was ready to retaliate America’s pressure on the North's economy and other fields.
"As the US launched full-scale provocation against the DPRK across all fields of politics, economy and military, nothing can alter the will and resolve of the army and people of the DPRK to respond by taking resolute retaliatory measures," Kim said.
Earlier this month, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a US-drafted resolution that imposed new sanctions on Pyongyang, slashing its $3 billion annual export revenue by about a third.
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