Missile test ‘warning’ against US sanctions push: North Korea Korea

But the US-led campaign only provided “further justification” for the North’s resolve to maintain its weapons programmes, Pyongyang’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA. “The… test-fire of ICBM … this time is meant to send a stern warning to the U.S. making senseless remarks, being lost to reason in the frantic sanctions and pressure campaign against the DPRK,” it said, using an acronym for the North’s official name.

The statement came hours after US President Donald Trump warned that he would not allow China — the impoverished North’s sole major ally and economic lifeline — to “do nothing” about North Korea. Trump, who is at loggerheads with Beijing over how to handle Kim’s regime, has repeatedly urged China to rein in its neighbour, but China insists dialogue is the only practical way forward.

The US also on Sunday had two powerful strategic bombers fly over the Korean peninsula for a joint drill with Japanese and South Korean forces, in a pointed show of force against the North. But Pyongyang’s foreign ministry urged the US to “wake up from the foolish dream of doing any harm to the DPRK.” “If the Yankees… dares brandish the nuclear stick on this land again …the DPRK will clearly teach them manners with the nuclear strategic force,” it said.

There remains doubts whether the North can miniaturise a nuclear weapon to fit a missile nose cone, or if it has mastered the technology needed for the projectile to survive re-entry into the atmosphere. But since Kim came to power in 2011, there has been a series of technical advances, including three nuclear tests and a string of missile launches.

In all, six sets of UN sanctions have been imposed on North Korea since it first tested an atomic device in 2006, but two resolutions adopted last year significantly toughened the sanctions regime.