A defiant North Korea said on Thursday that it would perform more rocket launches and a third nuclear test with the intention of developing the capacity to strike the United States, the New York Times reported.
The announcement followed an agreement by the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to a resolution backed by the U.S. to impose stiffer sanctions against North Korea for a December rocket launch.
From the Times:
The North’s threat marked the boldest challenge its new, untested leader, Kim Jong-un, has posed at both his country’s longtime foe, the United States, and its last remaining major ally, China, and rattled governments in Northeast Asia that are undergoing sensitive transitions of power.
In a statement issued through state-run media, the National Defense Commission, the North’s highest governing agency, headed by Mr. Kim, said that “a variety of satellites and long-range rockets which will be launched by the D.P.R.K. one after another and a nuclear test of higher level which will be carried out by it” will be “targeted” at “the U.S., the sworn enemy of the Korean people.”
The statement, which used the acronym for the North’s official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, did not clarify when it would conduct such a test, which would be the first since Mr. Kim came to power following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in December 2011.
