Nuclear weapon ban: North Korea vows to retaliate against US

North Korea has vowed to retaliate and make “the US pay
a price” for drafting fresh UN sanctions over its banned nuclear weapons
programme.

The sanctions, which were unanimously passed by the UN on
Saturday, were a “violent violation of our sovereignty,” the official
KCNA news agency said.

Separately, South Korea says the North has rejected an offer
to restart talks, dismissing it as insincere.

The sanctions will aim to reduce North Korea’s export
revenues by a third, BBC said.

The UN Security Council decision followed repeated missile
tests by the North which has escalated tensions on the peninsula.

In its first major response on Monday, North Korea insisted
that it would continue to develop its controversial nuclear weapons programme.

The state-run KCNA news agency said Pyongyang would
“not put our self-defensive nuclear deterrent on the negotiating
table” while it faces threats from the US.

It threatened to make the US “pay the price for its
crime… thousands of times,” referring to America’s role in drafting the
UN sanctions resolution.

Speaking to reporters at a regional forum in the Philippine
capital, Manila, North Korean spokesman Bang Kwang Hyuk said: “The
worsening situation on the Korean peninsula, as well as the nuclear issues, was
caused by the United States.

“We affirm that we’ll never place our nuclear and
ballistic missiles programme on the negotiating table, and won’t budge an inch
on strengthening nuclear armament.”

The remarks come after reports emerged that the North and
South Korean foreign ministers had met briefly on Sunday evening on the
sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in
Manila.

South Korean media reported that its Foreign Minister, Kang
Kyung-wha, shook hands with her North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong Ho, in a
brief and unarranged meeting at an official dinner event.

A South Korean official told the BBC that Mr Ri had
dismissed Ms Kang’s offer of talks as “insincere”.