North Korea launches a new round of threats against the West after the U.N. imposes tougher sanctions

By LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | JANUARY 28, 2013

The government from North Korea promised “significant steps” towards strengthening its position in the world stage, reported the Asian news agency KCNA. The report suggested that the country’s leadership is poised to carry out a third nuclear test despite the opposition of the international community.

The statement comes after leaders of security and foreign affairs held a meeting that has hosted by North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. Kim expressed “determination to take substantial and important government measures”, in view of the “grave situation” on the Korean peninsula.

The statement does not specify when the meeting took place or the nature of the actions that will be carried out, but Pyongyang said last Thursday that its military will perform and conduct more nuclear tests, including one with missiles that will point towards its “sworn enemy, the United States.”

The determination from the Asian country came after a late Tuesday U.N. Security Council meeting where the organization passed a new resolution condemning North Korea for the December release of a long-range missile, which, according Pyongyang, was only intended to put a satellite into space.

The North Korean regime accused the United States of leading the United Nations’ movements against the North and of pushing unprecedented “new sanctions that impede Pyongyang’s efforts to develop its economy. “This has proven once again that the (North) must defend its sovereignty by itself. It has become clear that there can’t be a Korean peninsula that is nuclear free before the world is nuclear free,” said North Korean state television.

The Security Council of the UN punished North Korea with new sanctions while ordering the nation not to conduct new nuclear tests.

The warning from Kim Jong-un on Sunday came a day after Pyongyang said that it plans a new nuclear test in response to the latest sanctions. These new sanctions increased the number of North Korean entities in an international blacklist.

The North Korean regime has also warned it will continue to develop rockets to counter what it sees as U.S. hostility. Washington says Pyongyang threatens their safety and that of the region, and this is the reason for the existence of its nuclear weapons program. The two countries fought in the Korean War (1950-1953). The conflict ended with an armistice, which never became a final peace treaty. The United States has about 28,000 troops in South Korea at the moment as a pre-emptive step to curb the North’s appetite for conquest.

It is estimated that Pyongyang has enough plutonium ready to build four to eight nuclear bombs, according to the U.S. nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker, who visited the nuclear facilities located northwest of Pyongyang in November 2010.

No one in the international community is sure whether North Korean scientists have been able to manufacture nuclear warheads small enough to put in a long-range ballistic missile. The nuclear tests and rocket launches are necessary to perfect the technique. South Korea says the North is all set logistically to conduct a nuclear test within days.

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