North Korea on Friday berated the Biden administration for imposing fresh sanctions against the country over its latest missile tests and warned of stronger and more explicit action if Washington maintains its "confrontational stance."
In a statement carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, an unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesperson defended the North's recent launches of purported hypersonic missiles as a righteous exercise of self-defence.
The spokesperson said the new sanctions underscore hostile U.S. intent aimed at "isolating and stifling" the North despite Washington's repeated calls for Pyongyang to resume diplomacy that has stalled over disagreements about sanctions relief and nuclear disarmament steps.
The Biden administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on five North Koreans over their roles in obtaining equipment and technology for the North's missile programs in its response to the North's latest missile test this week and also said it would seek new U.N. sanctions.
The announcement by the Treasury Department came just hours after North Korea said leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a successful test of a hypersonic missile on Tuesday that he claimed would greatly increase the country's nuclear "war deterrent."
The North Korean spokesperson accused the United States of maintaining a "gangster-like" stance, saying that the North's development of the new missile is part of its efforts to modernize its military and does not target any specific country or threaten the security of its neighbours.
"Nevertheless, the U.S. is intentionally escalating the situation even with the activation of independent sanctions, not content with referring the DPRK's just activity to the UN Security Council," the spokesperson said, using an abbreviation of North Korea's formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"This shows that though the present U.S. administration is trumpeting about diplomacy and dialogue, it is still engrossed in its policy for isolating and stifling the DPRK ... If the U.S. adopts such a confrontational stance, the DPRK will be forced to take stronger and certain reaction to it," the spokesperson said.
Tuesday's test was North Korea's second demonstration of its purported hypersonic missile in a week. The country in recent months has been ramping up tests of new, potentially nuclear-capable missiles designed to overwhelm missile defence systems in the region, as it continues to expand its military capabilities amid a freeze in diplomacy with the United States.
Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose a crucial challenge to missile defence systems because of their speed and maneuverability.
Such weapons were on a wish-list of sophisticated military assets Kim unveiled early last year along with multi-warhead missiles, spy satellites, solid-fuel long-range missiles and submarine-launched nuclear missiles.
Still, experts say North Korea would need years and more successful and longer-range tests before acquiring a credible hypersonic system.
The Biden administration, whose policies have reflected a broader shift in U.S. focus from counterterrorism and so-called rogue states like North Korea and Iran to confronting China, has said it's willing to resume talks with North Korea at any time without preconditions.
But North Korea has so far rejected the idea of open-ended talks, saying the U.S. must first withdraw its "hostile policy," a term Pyongyang mainly uses to describe the sanctions and joint U.S.-South Korea military drills.
In an interview with MSNBC, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the North's latest tests "profoundly destabilizing" and said the United States was deeply engaged at the U.N. and with key partners, including allies South Korea and Japan, on a response.
"I think some of this is North Korea trying to get attention. It's done that in the past. It'll probably continue to do that," Blinken said. "But we are very focused with allies and partners in making sure that they and we are properly defended and that there are repercussions, consequences for these actions by North Korea."
The State Department said Biden's special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, held separate calls with the nuclear envoys of South Korea and Japan to discuss trilateral cooperation following the North's recent launches and reiterated Washington's "ironclad" commitment to defend its allies.
A U.S.-led diplomatic push aimed at convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program collapsed in 2019 after the Trump administration rejected the North's demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.
Kim Jong Un has since pledged to further expand a nuclear arsenal he clearly sees as his strongest guarantee of survival, despite the country's economy suffering major setbacks amid pandemic-related border closures and persistent U.S.-led sanctions.
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