North Korea Threatens War - North Korea's Nuclear & Missile Programs

Arnold Ahlert * Canada Free Press

On Tuesday, North Korea vowed it would cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War. Soon-to-be-imposed sanctions by the United Nations regarding the nation’s recent nuclear test and U.S.-South Korean joint military drills were cited as the reasons for the threat. Without going into details, the Korean People’s Army Supreme Command warned of “surgical strikes” aimed at unifying the Korean Peninsula and that they possessed a “precision nuclear striking tool.”

An agreement on the latest sanctions was reached between the United States and China late Monday. It represents a shift by China, which has grown frustrated by North Korea’s increasingly provocative behavior. The U.N. Security Council followed up with an announcement that it would hold private consultations on the matter Tuesday. It was expected that the session would produce a draft resolution extending sanctions against any entities involved in both the nation’s nuclear and missile programs. It is speculated those sanctions could include a further tightening of financial restrictions, more cargo inspections, and an increase in blacklisted companies and individuals. Currently, 17 North Korean entities, including banks and trading companies, as well as nine individuals—all linked to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs—are being blacklisted by the U.N.

A separate announcement by the U.N. press office revealed that Russia, which occupies the presidency of the 15-nation Security Council for the month of March, was scheduled to hold private consultations about North Korea yesterday morning as well. U.N. diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity expressed the hope that the council will hold a vote on a resolution by the end of the week.

The latest action follows the unanimous approval of a February 12 press release, only hours after the atomic blast occurred, by the 15 members of the council. They condemned North Korea’s latest nuclear test, and pledged they would take additional action. “In line with this commitment and the gravity of this violation, the members of the Security Council will begin work immediately on appropriate measures in a Security Council resolution,” it read. If the council follows through as expected, the sanctions would be the fourth round of restrictions imposed on the rogue nation.

Inflammatory rhetoric is nothing new for North Korea, especially when the U.S. and South Korea conduct war games on the Korean Peninsula. But the latest statement contains far more specific threats. Pyongyang has warned that it will block a communications line between North Korea and the U.S. at the border village separating North and South Korea and that the 60-year-old armistice agreement will be abrogated on March 11, due to ongoing U.S.-South Korean war games that began March 1. Those war games were characterized as a “dangerous nuclear war targeted at us” in the statement released by Pyongyang yesterday. “We aim to launch surgical strikes at any time and any target without being bounded by the armistice accord and advance our long-cherished wish for national unification,” it added.

North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Each of them occurred after the United Nations condemned them for rocket launches. Sanctions were imposed by the Security Council after the first two tests, and after a rocket launch in December that was thought to be part of Pyongyang’s covert effort to develop long-range nuclear missiles capable of reaching the United States.

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