{"id":57205,"date":"2020-01-03T09:10:08","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T01:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=57205"},"modified":"2020-01-03T09:10:10","modified_gmt":"2020-01-03T01:10:10","slug":"north-korea-ends-test-moratoriums-threatens-new-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=57205","title":{"rendered":"North Korea ends test moratoriums, threatens \u2018new\u2019 weapon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

SEOUL, Jan 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared an end to moratoriums on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests and threatened a demonstration of a \u201cnew strategic weapon\u201d soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts said the announcement, reported by state media, amounted to Kim putting a missile \u201cto Donald Trump\u2019s head\u201d \u2014 but warned that escalation by Pyongyang would probably backfire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington was swift to respond, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging Kim to \u201ctake a different course\u201d and stressing that the US wanted \u201cpeace not confrontation\u201d with the North, while Trump played down the development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pyongyang has previously fired missiles capable of reaching the entire US mainland, and has carried out six nuclear tests, the last of them 16 times more powerful than the Hiroshima blast, according to the highest estimates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A self-imposed ban on such tests \u2014 Kim declared they were no longer needed \u2014 has been a centrepiece of the nuclear diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington over the past two years, which has seen three meetings between Kim and the US president, but little tangible progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any actual test is likely to infuriate Trump, who has repeatedly referred to Kim\u2019s \u201cpromise\u201d to him not to carry them out, and has downplayed launches of shorter-range weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Negotiations between the two sides have been largely deadlocked since the breakup of their Hanoi summit in February. The North set the US an end-of-2019 deadline for it to offer fresh concessions on sanctions relief, or it would adopt a \u201cnew way\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no ground for us to get unilaterally bound to the commitment any longer,\u201d the official KCNA news agency cited Kim as telling top ruling party officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe world will witness a new strategic weapon to be possessed by the DPRK in the near future,\u201d he added, referring to the North by its official name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers\u2019 Party was an indication of a major policy shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State television showed veteran newsreader Ri Chun Hee reading out the KCNA dispatch over footage of Kim addressing the officials and general imagery of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The broadcast appeared to stand in place of Kim\u2019s usual New Year speech \u2014 normally a key moment in the North Korean political calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim acknowledged the impact of international sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its weapons programmes, but made clear that the North was willing to pay the price to preserve its nuclear capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe US is raising demands contrary to the fundamental interests of our state and is adopting brigandish attitude,\u201d KCNA cited him as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington had \u201cconducted tens of big and small joint military drills which its president personally promised to stop\u201d and sent high-tech military equipment to the South, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to Fox News and CBS after Kim\u2019s announcement, Pompeo said a resumption of nuclear and missile tests would be \u201cdeeply disappointing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe hope that Chairman Kim will take a different course\u2026 that he\u2019ll choose peace and prosperity over conflict and war,\u201d Pompeo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want peace, not confrontation,\u201d he added, with Seoul\u2019s unification ministry adding that a strategic weapon test \u201cwould not help denuclearisation negotiations\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump himself was emollient, saying that he thought Kim was \u201ca man of his word\u201d and that at their Singapore summit, \u201cwe did sign a contract, talking about denuclearisation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern over North Korea\u2019s announcement and \u201cvery much hopes that the tests will not resume,\u201d his spokesman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNon-proliferation remains a fundamental pillar of global nuclear security,\u201d he added. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEOUL, Jan 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared an end to moratoriums on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests and threatened a demonstration of a \u201cnew strategic weapon\u201d soon. Analysts said the announcement, reported by state media, amounted to Kim putting a missile \u201cto Donald Trump\u2019s head\u201d \u2014 but warned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208,215],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57205"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57205\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}