North Korea said the U. S. will « pay dearly » after its United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said the isolated nation was « begging for war. »
North Korea said the U. S. will « pay dearly » after its United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said the isolated nation was « begging for war, » again ratcheting up tensions as world leaders consider a fresh round of sanctions.
Describing Haley’s comments to the U. N. this week as a « hysteric fit, » a commentary by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Friday warned the U. S. of unspecified retribution. North Korea detonated its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb on Sunday, and South Korea has said Kim Jong Un ‘s regime may be planning to launch another intercontinental ballistic missile on Saturday.
« The U. S. administration will have to pay a dear price for her tongue-lashing, » KCNA said of Haley’s remarks.
The Trump administration is pushing the U. N. Security Council to ban oil sales to North Korea in a fresh bid to pressure Kim. The North Korean leader is seeking the capability to strike the U. S. with a nuclear weapon, and has said he won’t negotiate unless America drops its « hostile » policies.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said it wasn’t inevitable that the U. S. would end up in a war with North Korea over its nuclear weapons development, but that military action remained an option.
« I would prefer not going the route of the military, but it is something certainly that could happen, » Trump said in a press conference at the White House.
He declined to say whether he’d accept a nuclear-armed North Korea that can be successfully deterred from using such weapons. A senior administration official later told reporters that the U. S. won’t let North Korea extort or threaten the world with its nuclear program, and that the administration isn’t sure the country could be deterred.
South Korea’s defense minister on Monday said it was worth reviewing the redeployment of American tactical nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula to guard against the North, a step that analysts warn would sharply increase the risk of an accidental conflict.
