The Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, at an undisclosed location in North Korea, November 29, 2017. (Image provided by the North Korean government, Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
SEOUL — North Korea on Sunday slammed the latest UN sanctions imposed on it over the isolated country’s widely-condemned intercontinental ballistic missile tests, describing the move as an “act of war.”
“We fully reject the latest UN sanctions… as a violent breach of our republic’s sovereignty and an act of war that destroys the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and a wider region,” Pyongyang’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.
It was the first official reaction from Pyongyang, a day after the UN Security Council unanimously passed new, US-drafted sanctions that will restrict oil supplies vital for the impoverished state.
Members of the UN Security Council vote 15-0 to impose new sanctions on North Korea during a Security Council meeting on December 22, 2017, at UN Headquarters in New York City. (AFP Photo/Kena Betancur)
The sanctions received the backing of Pyongyang’s key ally China and also orders the repatriation of North Korean workers sent abroad to earn much needed revenue for Kim Jong-Un’s regime.
The third raft of sanctions imposed on the North this year came about three weeks after Pyongyang test-fired its longest-range ICBM, which it said was capable of striking all major US cities.
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The test of Hwasong-15 further heightened global concerns over the rapid advance in the North’s missile and nuclear weapon programs that has accelerated since Kim took power in 2011.
The North says its weapons programs are designed for self-defense against “hostile” US policies towards the isolated but nuclear-armed nation.
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