SEOUL: North Korea vowed Monday to bolster its nuclear arsenal and launch “thousands-fold” revenge against the US in response to tough UN sanctions imposed after its recent intercontinental ballistic missile launches.
The warning came two days after the UN Security Council unanimously approved new sanctions to punish North Korea, including a ban on coal and other exports worth over $1 billion.
The US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley called the US-drafted resolution “the single-largest economic sanctions package ever leveled against” North Korea.
In a statement carried by state media, the North Korean government said the sanctions were a “violent infringement of its sovereignty” that was caused by a “heinous US plot to isolate and stifle” North Korea.
It said the UN sanctions will never force the country to negotiate over its nuclear program or to give up its push to strengthen its nuclear capability as long as US hostility and nuclear threats persist. The North said it will take an “action of justice,” but did not elaborate.
“It’s a wild idea to think the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) will be shaken and change its position due to this kind of new sanctions formulated by hostile forces,” said the statement, carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
The statement “rhetorically expresses its anger” against the UN sanctions, but the country is not likely to launch a direct provocation against the US, said Lim Eul Chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea’s Kyungnam University.
He said the North could still carry out new missile tests or a sixth atomic bomb test in the coming months under its broader weapons development timetable.
North Korea test-launched two ICBMs last month as part of its efforts to possess a long-range missile capable of striking anywhere in the mainland US.
Both missiles were fired at highly lofted angles and analysts say the weapons could reach parts of the US, including Alaska, Los Angeles and Chicago, if fired at a normal, flattened trajectory.
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N. Korea vows harsh retaliation against new UN sanctions
N. Korea vows harsh retaliation against new UN sanctions
Philippine VP Sara Duterte impeachment case moves forward
- A Philippine congressional committee agreed overwhelmingly on Wednesday to advance the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte
MANILA: A Philippine congressional committee agreed overwhelmingly on Wednesday to advance the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, setting the stage for a potential vote that could decide her political future.
The daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who in February announced a 2028 presidential bid, was impeached last year, only for the Supreme Court to toss the case out over procedural issues.
Under the Philippine constitution, an impeachment by the House of Representatives triggers a Senate trial, where a guilty verdict would ban Duterte from elected office for life.
The new complaints, ruled “sufficient in substance” by a vote of 54-1 on Wednesday, accuse her of graft and corruption while in office and of making a death threat against former ally President Ferdinand Marcos.
She will now have 10 days to respond before the start of a hearing of probable cause necessary to move the complaints to a House vote.
“Our vote today is not a verdict of guilt nor an act of condemnation. It’s simply a decision on whether the constitutional process should move forward,” Representative Ferdinand Hernandez said minutes before the vote.
The vice president’s legal team said Wednesday they would not comment on specific allegations.
“For now, we will refrain from discussing the substance of the case in the media and will instead address these matters through the proper constitutional processes,” lawyer Michael Poa said in a statement.
The alleged death threat against Marcos stems from a late-night press briefing in which she claimed to have hired an assassin to kill the president and members of his family should he have her cut down first.
Analysts have warned that Duterte’s presidential announcement will weigh heavily on lawmakers forced to gauge the repercussions of a vote against someone who may yet hold the country’s highest office.
While she later said the comments were misinterpreted, lawmaker Gerville Luistro said Wednesday that the alleged threats could destabilize institutions.
“They carry weight. They create fear,” she said.
Duterte and Marcos have been engaged in a high-stakes political brawl that erupted within weeks of their 2022 win in the presidential election, when the vice president was denied her favored cabinet portfolios and instead named education secretary.
The justice committee last month tossed out a pair of impeachment complaints against Marcos, ruling that allegations of corruption over a scandal involving bogus flood control projects lacked substance.
The daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who in February announced a 2028 presidential bid, was impeached last year, only for the Supreme Court to toss the case out over procedural issues.
Under the Philippine constitution, an impeachment by the House of Representatives triggers a Senate trial, where a guilty verdict would ban Duterte from elected office for life.
The new complaints, ruled “sufficient in substance” by a vote of 54-1 on Wednesday, accuse her of graft and corruption while in office and of making a death threat against former ally President Ferdinand Marcos.
She will now have 10 days to respond before the start of a hearing of probable cause necessary to move the complaints to a House vote.
“Our vote today is not a verdict of guilt nor an act of condemnation. It’s simply a decision on whether the constitutional process should move forward,” Representative Ferdinand Hernandez said minutes before the vote.
The vice president’s legal team said Wednesday they would not comment on specific allegations.
“For now, we will refrain from discussing the substance of the case in the media and will instead address these matters through the proper constitutional processes,” lawyer Michael Poa said in a statement.
The alleged death threat against Marcos stems from a late-night press briefing in which she claimed to have hired an assassin to kill the president and members of his family should he have her cut down first.
Analysts have warned that Duterte’s presidential announcement will weigh heavily on lawmakers forced to gauge the repercussions of a vote against someone who may yet hold the country’s highest office.
While she later said the comments were misinterpreted, lawmaker Gerville Luistro said Wednesday that the alleged threats could destabilize institutions.
“They carry weight. They create fear,” she said.
Duterte and Marcos have been engaged in a high-stakes political brawl that erupted within weeks of their 2022 win in the presidential election, when the vice president was denied her favored cabinet portfolios and instead named education secretary.
The justice committee last month tossed out a pair of impeachment complaints against Marcos, ruling that allegations of corruption over a scandal involving bogus flood control projects lacked substance.
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