Policy & Strategy

North Korea warns of new nuclear ‘measures’

North Korea on Monday warned it would take new nuclear “measures” if the United States did not end its alleged provocations toward Pyongyang.

{mosads}Ri Tong Il, North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said his country was ready to take measures that would ““demonstrate the power of the self-defensive nuclear deterrent,” according to Agence France-Presse.

{mosads}Asked to elaborate, Ri said: “We are keeping ourselves restrained from taking the additional measures, but it is totally dependent on the attitude of the US.”

“What kind of additional measures, I think you can wait and see later,” he added.

The North Korean ambassador also accused the U.S. of undermining potential improved relations with South Korea and a revival of the six-party talks over its nuclear program, citing the U.S. military flying B-52 bombers over South Korea while the North and South were meeting.

Ri said Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons were not a “political bargaining chip,” according to the Associated Press.