North Korea warns US of 'stronger reaction' over sanctions post ballistic missile launches

North Korea on Thursday warned the US of "stronger and certain reactions" as Washington slapped new sanctions on Pyongyang officials in response to its latest ballistic missile tests. In a statement released by North Korea's foreign ministry, Pyongyang officials stated that the US will face stringent retaliation in case it "adopts such confrontational stance," reported the Korean Central News Agency. The remarks come after the Biden administration on Wednesday imposed strict sanctions on six North Koreans involved in the reclusive regime's ballistic missiles programs.

"If the US adopts such a confrontational stance, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will be forced to take stronger and certain reaction to it," the statement by Pyongyang Foreign Ministry said as quoted by the Korean Herald.

"“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. This shows that do the present us administration is trumpeting about diplomacy and dialogue, it is still engrossed in its policy for isolating and stifling the DPRK," the statement added.

It is pertinent to mention that the latest developments follow Pyongyang's latest launch of "newly developed hypersonic missiles" as a part of its efforts for "modernising national self defence capability." As per a statement released after the missile test, "(the missiles) did not target any specific country or force and it did not do any harm to the security of neighbouring countries." North also called the US newly slapped sanctions as an "evident provocation and gangster-like logic aimed at intentionally escalating the situation."

Meanwhile, South Korea downplayed Pyongyang's missile launch, saying that the projectile launch was "exaggerated" in terms of performance. Seoul said that the missile did not reach the claimed target of 700kms and it was a normal ballistic Maneuverable Reentry Vehicle (MaRV) and not Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGV), as Pyongyang said.

North Korea continues test of new weapons

The said test of projectiles on Tuesday, which was overseen by North Korea's head of state Kim Jong-un, was second in less than a week. The series of tests is a part of the regime's mass destruction weapons. The ramp-up in testing comes as the state head vowed to bolster North Korea's defence capabilities amid the long-standing impasse with the US over nuclear negotiations. For note, the nukes' talk has remained stalled since the Hanoi Summit in 2019, which ended without a resolution. On Tuesday, US State Secretary Antony Blinken had described North Korea's move as "attention-seeking."

Speaking at an interview with MSNBC, Blinken asserted that North Korea has ignored the US administration's initial call to resume denuclearisation talks and instead responded with more ballistic missile tests. "We made it clear that we were prepared to engage the North Koreans to sit down with no preconditions to see if we could find a way forward with them at the table, to work the total denuclearisation of Korean Peninsula," Blinken stressed.  However, there has been no constructive response from those overtures "but the response was seen in recent weeks has been renewed missile test."

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