Pyongyang responds to tougher U.N. Security Council sanctions with a
barrage of vitriol, repeating a vow to ditch all nonaggression pacts
with the South.
FULL STORY
(CNN) -- North Korea on Friday responded to tougher
sanctions from the U.N. Security Council with another barrage of
vitriol, repeating a vow to ditch all nonaggression pacts with the
South.
What to make of North Korea's newest threat
Photos: Kim Jong Un and North Korea's military
North Korea at it again with threats
Anger from North Korea over sanctions
China signs on to North Korea sanctions
North Korea's nuclear ambitions
China's role in North Korean sanctions
U.N. toughens sanctions on North Korea
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North Korea responded to tougher sanctions from the U.N. Security
Council with another barrage of vitriol, repeating a vow to ditch all
nonaggression pacts. FULL STORY
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EFFECTIVE SANCTIONS?
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KOREAN WAR
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CHINA'S ROLE
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KOREAN WAR
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CHINA'S ROLE
North Korea vows end to nonaggression pacts after U.N. vote
March 8, 2013 -- Updated 1200 GMT (2000 HKT)
What to make of North Korea's newest threat
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- China calls for all parties to calm down but stands behind new U.N. sanctions
- The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to approve new measures
- North Korea responds with a fresh statement of angry threats
- Analysts and officials warn that the spike in rhetoric is dangerous
A day after the isolated
regime in Pyongyang had threatened a possible "preemptive nuclear
attack" -- something analysts say they think it is unlikely and
currently unable to do -- its official news agency reeled off a number
of agreements with South Korea that it said would no longer apply.
It's the latest installment in a week of furious rhetoric from the North, fueled by its anger over the U.N. vote on the new sanctions,
a response to the Pyongyang's recent nuclear test, and joint military
drills by the United States and South Korea, which take place in the
region each year.
North Korea watchers and U.S. officials say
that the recent frenzy of ominous language from North Korea under its
young leader Kim Jong Un makes the situation on the Korean Peninsula
more worrying and unpredictable.
What to make of North Korea's newest threat
Photos: Kim Jong Un and North Korea's military
North Korea at it again with threats
Anger from North Korea over sanctions
South Korea has warned the North that it will retaliate strongly and sternly if its citizens are threatened.
"This surge in
provocative rhetoric is particularly dangerous," said Michael Auslin of
the American Enterprise Institute. "South Korea's new president (Park
Geun Hye) can't be seen to back down in the face of the North's threats,
while Kim Jong Un may feel that his successful missile and nuclear
tests give him the ability to keep pressuring Seoul. The two may wind up
talking themselves into conflict."
South Korean President
Park Geun-hye, who took office late last month, said Friday that Seoul
would respond strongly to any provocation from Pyongyang, the
semiofficial news agency Yonhap reported.
The possibility of flare
up was highlighted by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and
International Studies, which predicted a provocative move from the North
"in the coming weeks."
The center said that according to its research,
Pyongyang has carried out "a military provocation of some form within
weeks of every South Korean presidential inauguration dating back to
1992."
A military clash could
risk drawing in the United States, which has about 28,500 troops
stationed in South Korea as part of the security alliance between the
two countries.
The most recent skirmish
between the two Koreas took place in November 2010, when the North
shelled an island on the South's side of the border, killing several
people. Pyongyang claimed Seoul had provoked it by carrying out training
exercises off their shared coast.
A week of strong threats
The North's comments
Friday doubled down on statements it had made earlier this week,
promising to abolish the armistice agreement that stopped the Korean War
in 1953, and threatening strikes on the United States and South Korea.
Claiming its enemies are
"hell bent on confrontation and war fever," Pyongyang said it was now
revoking "all agreements on nonaggression reached between the north and
the south," a declaration it has made in previous years
It also said it was
nullifying the joint declaration on the denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula. The North, which conducted its third underground nuclear test
last month, had said recently that denuclearization of the region was
"impossible" because of what it described as the United States' hostile
policy toward it.
And it stated that it
was immediately cutting off the "north-south hotline," three days after
it had already said it planned to terminate its military telephone line
with the United States.
The phone line is meant
to serve as a tool to defuse potential flash points along the heavily
militarized border between the two Koreas.
But Andre Kok, deputy
public affairs officer for U.S. Forces in Korea, said that reports of
the North's Korean People's Army (KPA) cutting off communication often
arise when military training exercises are taking place, as they are at
the moment.
"When we place a call on
the direct phone line and the KPA does not answer, we have no way of
knowing if the KPA has actually disconnected the phone lines or are just
not answering the phone," he said.
China signs on to North Korea sanctions
North Korea's nuclear ambitions
China's role in North Korean sanctions
U.N. toughens sanctions on North Korea
New U.N. measures
Tensions are
particularly high at the moment because of the new measures against the
North adopted unanimously Thursday by the U.N. Security Council.
"These sanctions will bite, and bite hard," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said after the vote.
China, North Korea's key
ally, could have used its veto power to block the sanctions. Instead,
after weeks of negotiating, it signed on to the final draft.
"China is a country of
principle," China's U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong said. "We are firmly
committed to safeguarding peace and stability on the Korean peninsula."
On Friday, China's
Foreign Ministry called upon "all relative parties to stay calm and
refrain from taking actions that may escalate tension." Spokeswoman Hua
Chunying reiterated China's support for the sanctions, which have stoked
Pyongyang's fury.
The goal of the new sanctions
is to stymie the activities of North Korean banks and cash couriers who
might be funneling money to the secretive regime's nuclear and missile
programs.
It will be tougher for the regime to move large sums of cash stuffed into suitcases, Rice said.
The U.N. resolution also
outlines measures to step up scrutiny of suspicious sea shipments and
air cargo. And it expands restrictions to encompass several institutions
and senior officials in the North's weapons industry, as well as a
range of materials and technology known to be used in uranium
enrichment.
It also blocks the sale of luxury goods -- such as yachts and certain high-end jewelry -- to North Korea.
"As a result, North
Korea's ruling elite, who have been living large while impoverishing
their people, will pay a price" for the ongoing nuclear activities, Rice
said.
Questions over sanctions' effectiveness
Some doubt whether the new measures will make much difference.
Sanctions imposed after previous nuclear tests and rocket launches have failed to deter Pyongyang.
China will go a long way toward determining whether the new sanctions really do have "bite," analysts say.
"As long as China allows
North Korea to operate, as long as China provides food, energy
assistance, and investment, the sanctions really don't matter," said
Doug Bandow of the Cato Institute.
North Korea notoriously
allows many of its people to live in malnutrition and starvation. Still,
the country needs a functioning economy, partly to finance its
military, Bandow explained.
CNN's Josh Levs, Tim Schwarz, Elise Labott and Richard Roth contributed to this report.
March 8, 2013 -- Updated 1120 GMT (1920 HKT)
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