North Korea cautions sanctions and pressure will fuel more hostility

By Soo-hyang Choi

SEOUL, Nov 24 (Reuters) – North Korea on Thursday
denounced Seoul’s push to impose additional sanctions on
Pyongyang following its repeated missile launches, saying such
measures will add to the North’s “hostility and anger,” state
media KCNA reported.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister, Kim Yo
Jong, made the remarks in a statement carried by KCNA, calling
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol “and other idiots” a
“faithful dog” of the United States.

South Korea’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday it was
reviewing independent sanctions on Pyongyang. It said sanctions
on the cyber sector were among those considered in case the
North pushes ahead with a nuclear test.

North Korea has conducted an unprecedented number of
ballistic missile launches this year. For months Washington has
said North Korea could conduct a nuclear bomb test, the first
since 2017, at any time.

“If they think that they can escape from the present
dangerous situation through ‘sanctions,’ they must be really
idiots as they do not know how to live in peace and comfort,”
Kim Yo Jong said in the statement.

The United States has urged the United Nations Security
Council to hold North Korea accountable for its missile tests in
one voice, accusing China and Russia of “emboldening” Pyongyang
by blocking Security Council action.

China and Russia backed tighter sanctions following
Pyongyang’s last nuclear test in 2017, but in May both vetoed a
U.S.-led push for more U.N. penalties over its renewed missile
launches.

“We warn the impudent and stupid once again that the
desperate sanctions and pressure of the U.S. and its South
Korean stooges against the DPRK will add fuel to the latter’s
hostility and anger,” Kim Yo Jong said, using the initials of
the North’s official name.
(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi; Editing by Howard Goller)