Asia-PacificKorea

North Korea condemns UN resolution

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North Korea has condemned as “extremely unfair “a UN resolution aimed at punishing Pyongyang for its December rocket launch, vowing to strengthen its military and nuclear capabilities.

The condemnation came early Wednesday hours after the UN Security Council passed a resolution which imposes new sanctions on the East Asian country.

“We will take physical actions aimed at expanding and strengthening our self-defensive military forces, including nuclear deterrence,” read a statement issued by North Korea’s Foreign Ministry.

The statement also ruled out disarmament negotiations and highlighted that there would be “no dialogue to discuss denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”

The statement was apparently referring to remarks by China’s ambassador to the United Nations, Li Baodong, who said the UN measure stressed the necessity for restarting the six party talks, comprising both Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, which aim at curbing North Korea’s nuclear program.

Earlier on Tuesday an unnamed diplomat said that the UN Security Council planned to impose new embargoes on North Korean companies, and government agencies “including North Korea’s space agency responsible for the launch, and several individuals.”

On December 12, 2012, Pyongyang announced that it has launched a long-range rocket from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station, located in Cholsan County of North Pyongan Province, and successfully placed a satellite into orbit.

This comes while Washington and its allies said the North Korean launch had been a cover for testing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

On December 14, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un said the country would go ahead with its space program and would launch more rockets and send more satellites into orbit.

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